dot hack dimensions
by Kyjin
Summary: .hackMy Life as a Teenage Robot Crossover. When Jenny and her friends journey into the world, she meets a mysterious player, causing a new romance to begin. Chapter 14 is now up!
1. Prologue

AN: This is my first fanfic, so I hope you enjoy. ^_^ It is a crossover between the .hack series and My Life as a Teenage Robot. I do not own the My Life as a Teenage Robot characters or anything taken from the .hack universe. Aoshi and Kakera are my own characters based off of MLTR characters with elements of .hack thrown in. Please read and review, and enjoy!  
  
.hack//dimensions  
  
Prologue  
  
The heavy blade stepped into a long dark hallway. It appeared to be filled with bleak nothingness. The unadorned stone grey walls brought despair to her heart, but she continued on. She stepped forward, and her footfall cried with the sounds of death and despair. This was what she had been searching for. The final gate had been the one to lead her here. It looked to be the perfect place for her adversary to meet her. She knew that her love would be with that dark creature. She would rescue the keeper of her heart here and now.  
  
Over the past few weeks she had caused him so much pain. How could she live with that knowledge, knowing all he had done for her? Not only had he shown her kindness, friendship, and trust, but he had shown her love. This feeling was something she had never experienced before, and something she never wanted to lose.  
  
In the final moments they had been together, she had learned the truth. Who he may be was nothing to her, as long as she had him back. After everything they had been through, she doubted that he would want to be with her. But she still had one promise to him that she would keep, no matter what.  
  
"I will save you Aoshi, I promise." 


	2. Chapter 1: The Game

AN: Well, here is the first chapter of my story. Don't worry, it is much longer then the prologue. I hope to have the second chapter up this weekend, so enjoy. Just a note: I do not own any characters from My Life As A Teenage Robot or any concepts from .hack//sign. Please read and review, and I hope you like it!  
  
.hack//dimensions Chapter 1: The Game  
  
"Hurry up XJ-9! You're going to be late!"  
  
"Mom, I really doubt that," replied a tall robotic girl. "It only takes 32.57 seconds for me to fly to school from here." Her metallic six foot body glistened as the sun hit her white "skin" and blue "hair". Her "hair" was up in what appeared to be two ponytails held together by bolts. She had blue body armor around her waist and chest, and the rest of her body was white metal. She was quickly throwing books in a light orange backpack, getting ready for the new day.  
  
"Really XJ-9. You'd think a teenage robot would have their books ready for school already." A short woman walked into the room. She wore a yellow coat, black goggles with red lenses, and had spiked white hair held back by a yellow headband. She was much shorter then XJ-9, possibly only 4 feet in height, yet she appeared to have some control over the robot.  
  
"Well I would've had my things together already if I didn't have to fight that giant spider downtown," commented the robot girl, rolling her eyes "And stop calling me XJ-9! My name is Jenny!"  
  
"Ok... uh, Jenny." Mrs. Winkman shook her head and left the room. Jenny ignored her, and jumped out the window. Rockets shot out of her feet as she got outside, and started flying towards school.  
  
Tremorton High School appeared to be filled with students already as Jenny landed on the grounds. No one really looked at her; they were used to the robot girl making landings in the morning.  
  
"Hey Jenny!" called a boy's voice from the entrance. She looked and saw her best friend, Brad. The tall red head was wearing his usual khakis, white shirt, and black sweater on top.  
  
"What's up Brad?" she asked.  
  
"Not too much, but you should see what Sheldon's up to."  
  
"Sheldon?" Jenny said in a puzzled voice. Sheldon, the geeky boy who was madly in love with her, usually greeted her in the morning as well. Of course his greetings were often ignored, but still... "What is he doing?"  
  
"Seems to be putting posters up everywhere about some online game. I think it's called 'The Weird' or 'The White' or something."  
  
"It's called 'The World'." A geeky boy walked up to the two. He was a little shorter than Jenny, and wore a white shirt, red jacket, and jeans. His face was covered with pimples, but he didn't seem to mind. His black hair looked a bit greasy and uncooperative as well. Sheldon smiled and continued to talk.  
  
"'The World' is a huge online role playing game. It's very popular in Japan and other parts of the world, but a server has never been set up for this area before. There were some accidents a few years ago, so the game was delayed being set up here."  
  
"But Sheldon, if it has only just been set up here, how do you know about it?" the confused Brad asked.  
  
Sheldon smiled. "That's where the fun comes in. I was a beta tester for this area, so I'm already established in the game. I want to promote it now so that others will be able to try it."  
  
"It sounds... weird," commented Jenny. "What exactly do you get to do in this game?"  
  
"Well," explained Sheldon. "Everyone creates their own character. There are swordsmen, magicians, and spearmen. There is no true purpose to the game, but there are a lot of areas with monsters to defeat. It's a good way to meet other people as well, because anyone from anywhere can go on and play."  
  
"Fighting monsters?" laughed Jenny. "I do that every day of the week, why would I want to do it virtually?"  
  
"It sounds cool!" bursted in Brad. "Jenny, you might use super powers everyday and fight monsters and stuff, but for the rest of us, we never do that. It sounds fun." He turned to Sheldon and asked, "So where can I get a copy?"  
  
"I got a few complimentary copies for helping out," said the eager boy. "Here." He reached into his bag and pulled out two boxes that held the game, and three pairs of headsets. "You have to install it on your computer, and the headsets connect. When you put them on, its like you really are that character, and it makes it real. You can have two Brad, so Tuck can play as well."  
  
"Well, I guess my little brother would like to play around too," muttered Brad as he took the game and headsets. "What about you Jenny? Are you going to try it out?"  
  
"Uh, I guess so." Jenny took a copy from Sheldon as well. "Although I don't know how much fun it will really be."  
  
"Don't worry Jenny, it'll be a blast!" Sheldon smiled a big grin, and then picked up his bag and posters. "I'm going to put up more posters. I hope to see you guys later in the World!" Sheldon ran off, waving. He bumped into a locker along the way, and rubbed his head. Still smiling, he ran off down the hall. 


	3. Chapter 2: Set Up

AN: Thank you to any who have read it so far! ^_^ I'm glad that somebody has read and enjoyed what I've written so far. Now its time we delve deeper into the World. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I hope to have the third chapter up soon! I do not own any characters from My Life as a Teenage Robot or any concepts from .hack. And now, chapter 2!  
  
.hack//dimensions  
  
Chapter 2: Set Up  
  
"Bye guys! Seeya later!" called the robot Jenny to her friends. She walked outside of the school to the field, and let out her rocket boosters to take off. She shot off quickly, and headed towards her home.  
  
"Let's see," she said to herself. "I already took care of that alien invasion today, and the giant rat in the subway is gone. Hmm, I don't think there will be any other attacks today. And for once I don't have any homework. So what should I do?"  
  
Jenny landed in front of her home. The tall, grey building looked out of place in the neighborhood. At one point, many people, including her friends Brad and Tuck, had thought the place to be scary. Rumor had it that Mrs. Winkman did horrible and gruesome experiments inside. But after Tuck met Jenny, that opinion changed. Well, for the most part anyway.  
  
Jenny walked in. "Mom! I'm home!" she cried. Hearing no response, she called again. "Mom?!"  
  
The teenage robot walked farther into the house, and up the stairs into her mother's main laboratory. "Mom?"  
  
Mrs. Winkman was nowhere to be found. Jenny was about to call her on her video phone, but then she saw a note on the scientist's desk.  
  
"XJ-9," she read. "I've gone out to the scientist convention for the weekend. The lead speaker got sick so they called me in at the last minute. Be good and answer any calls for danger while I'm not there. Signed, Mom."  
  
"Alright! I'm all alone for the weekend!" Jenny smiled and bounced around for a minute. She stopped suddenly, and groaned. "Ugh, everyone said they'd be busy because they're trying out that game. So no one can come over and hangout." Jenny picked up her bag and looked inside, taking out her own copy of the game, the World.  
  
"Well, if that's where everyone else is going to be, then I should be too. If it's really that bad, I can always turn it off."  
  
*************************************  
  
"Alright, so now it's installed." Jenny sat at the computer in her room, reading the back of the box for the game. The front cover simply said "The World" with the insignia of a blade on front. The headset lay next to her keyboard, already plugged into the computer.  
"So next I need to set up an account. Alright." Jenny put the box down and turned to the string, moving the mouse to click on "register".  
  
"Please choose a username," said the prompt on the screen.  
  
"How about XJ-9? Simple and true." She typed in quickly and clicked enter.  
  
"Please choose a character name. It is recommended not to use your real name. Japanese names are particularly popular."  
  
"A different name huh? I can't think of any." Jenny thought, and scanned through the Japanese dictionary embedded on her hard drive. "Kakera! It sounds nice to me." She typed it in, and pressed enter.  
  
"Please select a character class," said the computer prompt.  
  
"A character class? Hmm..." Jenny scrolled down the screen. "Well I don't know what any of these are. I'll try... heavy blade. That might be interesting. Well, looks like I'm done. Now I just need to put on my headset, and I'll be in." The robot picked it up, and placed in on her head. Suddenly, she was transported to a new world...  
  
**********************************  
  
"Woah..."  
  
Jenny, now known as Kakera, stepped out of the blue spinning chaos gate and into the water capital, Mac Anu. The blue sky and tall brown building seemed normal enough, yet they were still alien in a way. Up ahead, Kakera could see a bridge over a long winding river. Various people dressed in strange clothes and carrying swords and staves were everywhere. Many looked to be shopping or talking to others.  
  
"This is weird," Kakera whispered to herself, walking forward. She stopped suddenly, looked down, and jumped.  
  
She was surprised, for now she looked different as well. No longer was she a robot girl. She had blue hair hanging down to her shoulders and big blue eyes. On her feet were purple boots, with blue fringes on top. Around her chest was what could only be described as a bra. Actually, it was purple armor that matched her boots. The ridge on the armor was gold plated. Kakera's skirt was right below her belly button and reached down to her knees. Purple with blue fringes, the only difference from the rest of the outfit was that there was a red jewel in the middle. Blue triangle marks came from her back up to her belly button, and a few triangle marks came up the sides of her cheeks. Kakera lifted her arm and saw a huge blade as well. The handle was purple with a blue stone on the end, and the blade was deep metallic silver, with the blue triangle marks coming up the sides of the blade. Most surprising to her of all, however, was that she now appeared...  
  
"Human." She had pale white skin, but she no longer appeared to be a robot of any kind. No one here would judge her on the way she truly looked. Here, she could fit in with anyone.  
  
"I think I'm gonna like it here." 


	4. Chapter 3: Newbies

AN: Sorry for the delay in this chapter, but my main concern has been editing what I have previously written. The new version of the story is now up, and I finished this today as well, so everyone is happy! ^_^ Here you'll be introduced to the other online personas (for the moment), and I think it's the best I've written for this yet! Enjoy!  
  
.hack//dimensions  
  
Chapter 3: Newbies  
  
Kakera walked forward, entranced by the scenery around her. There were so many people, so many buildings. She couldn't help but stand there and stare.  
  
"Jeez, so many newbies now," commented a swordsman to someone with a spear behind Kakera. "This place is overrun with them!"  
  
"They just opened up a new server somewhere," replied the spearman. "You have to give them a break though. It's not their fault that they have no idea how the game works."  
  
"Humph, that may be so but it gets annoying to have these idiots walking around."  
  
"You were a newbie once too you know."  
  
"Yeah, but I wasn't as bad as these people!"  
  
Kakera listened intently to the conversation behind her. She wasn't happy with the "idiot" comment, but now she knew the general attitude people had to players who were new. "Newbies" was the pet name that they were calling people like her. Well, that label would not apply to Kakera soon enough.  
  
The heavy blade continued down the street, looking around. She had no idea where to start on her adventure, but then she heard some voices that sounded familiar.  
  
"Brad! Give me back my staff!"  
  
"Your staff? I believe I picked it up in that dungeon."  
  
"But you can't even use it! And it's a lot better then the one I have!"  
  
"Maybe I should sell it and get something for myself then."  
  
"No!!!!!"  
  
Kakera walked towards the voices, and found the two fighting boys. The tall one was holding the staff that was causing the argument up in the air, taunting the smaller boy with it. He had long green hair pulled back in a ponytail, and wore red pants and a long sleeved red turtleneck shirt. Rectangular black buckles were placed around his neck. On his hands were green squares, and coming up the sides of his face were long green rectangle marks. Kakera could see a glint of metal up both his sleeves which must be his weapons.  
  
The smaller boy was jumping up trying to reach the new staff, his own lying on the ground beside him. He was a head shorter than the tall boy, but had a large blue hat that added to his height. Spiked red hair could be seen coming from underneath his hat, and a long blue robe with lines of yellow covered the rest of his body.  
  
"Brad, Tuck? Is that you?" Kakera asked.  
  
"Jenny?" asked the tall boy, looking over. "Whoa! I didn't recognize you!"  
  
"I didn't recognize myself either," she admitted. "I wouldn't have been able to tell who you two were either except how you were arguing."  
  
"Well we wouldn't have been arguing if Brad would just give me my staff!" yelled Tuck, still jumping for the staff.  
  
"Fine, you can have it," said Brad, and dropped the staff into his little brother's hands. "Can you start calling me by my online name though? It's Rai."  
  
"Rai? I like it." Kakera smiled, and continued. "My username is Kakera. What's yours Tuck?"  
  
"Tobira," he replied, examining his new staff.  
  
"Tobira? Doesn't that mean door?"  
  
"Well, I like it!" yelled Tobira, and turned to Rai. "So are we going to that dungeon now or what?'  
  
"Sure, it should be a cinch to go through this one, now that we have Kakera with us." Rai smiled and turned to Kakera. "You are coming to the dungeon with us, right?"  
  
"Uh, sure," quickly replied Kakera. "Although I don't know how much help I'll be. I've only been in the game for five minutes."  
  
"So? We've only been playing for half an hour, and look what we got in that dungeon." Tobira held up his staff and smiled. "And that was just with Rai attacking and me healing him. Since you're a heavy blade, it should be easy because we'll have two attackers."  
  
"Wait, what character classes are you two?"  
  
"Well, I'm a wave master," Tobira informed her. "I use spells and stuff. Rai is a twin blade. He's very fast with attacks and has some abilities."  
  
"Come on already!" yelled Rai. "I have an area picked out already. Let's get in a party together and go through the chaos gate!"  
  
*********************************************  
  
In three beams of yellow light, Kakera, Tobira, and Rai arrived at the area.  
  
"Chosen Forbidden White Devil," whispered Rai, looking around the eerie level. The area was covered with snow, and the sky was a mix of dark blue and purple. Mountains could be seen in the distance, but they were probably just there as part of the background. The area looked abandoned, no one in sight.  
  
"This is a big change from standing around in that city area," commented Kakera, as she walked forward. "So where are these 'evil monsters' that we have to fight?"  
  
"They're in little gates that are all around. You have to walk near one for them to come out. Let's see... aha! There's one over there!" Rai pointed to a large spinning golden gate to their right. He walked forward, and the gate disappeared, leaving in its place a huge dragon-like creature.  
  
"Ah! That's a lot bigger then the ones we fought before!" cried Tobira, holding his staff in front of his face to hide himself.  
  
Rai smiled and shook his head. "This area is a higher level than the last one we were in. Don't worry; it'll be a cinch now that there are three of us. Come on Kakera!" Blades shot out of Rai's sleeves, right above his hands. He ran towards the monster, and sliced at it with his blades as he ran past. He stopped once he got past it, and turned back.  
  
The dragon did not have a single scratch on him.  
  
"Rai! That didn't do anything!" cried Tobira. "It says on my screen that he still has full hp!"  
  
"I must not have had a clear hit on him," admitted Rai. "Let me try again!" Rai ran towards the dragon again, and sliced its side. Once again, there was no scratch on the monster, and on Kakera's screen she could see that no hp was being taken from the creature. The dragon itself looked like it saw Rai as only a small pest that could be easily disposed of. It started running towards Rai, and the now scared twin blade ran in fear.  
  
"Ugh, looks like I better do something," said Kakera in a determined voice. She raised her sword and ran towards the creature. She sliced at his leg, but that looked to have no effect as well. The dragon turned towards Kakera to attack, and she had to dive out of the way before she was made into its dinner.  
  
"What?" Kakera was puzzled. "I've squashed monsters bigger than this in my sleep!"  
  
"This is a game, remember?" said Rai. "You don't have your robot powers here! Your level is on your screen, it's the same as the rest of us."  
  
"Ugh, great."  
  
"Rai! What level is this place anyway?" screamed Tobira, still hiding behind his staff.  
  
"Uh.... Level 16."  
  
"What?!" yelled Kakera as she jumped out of the dragon's attack again. "But we're only level 5!"  
  
"But I figured we could handle this," admitted Rai. "Uh, let's get out of here!"  
  
"Fine by me!" replied Tobira, and started running away from the creature. Kakera and Rai ran after him, with the dragon in hot pursuit.  
  
"Can't we get out of this area?" asked Kakera, panting as she ran.  
  
"Not if we're in a battle situation," answered the startled twin blade. "We can only leave if we defeat the monster or get away from it, but it looks like it won't let us do either of those things."  
  
"Shit!" cried the heavy blade, as the claw of the dragon caught her leg, bringing her down.  
  
"Kakera!" screamed her friends, as she tried to escape the clutches of the dragon.  
  
Suddenly the shadow of a man shot across the sky, jumping over the creature, the sound of a sword slicing through flesh following him. He landed next to the creature, as it froze and suddenly burst into bits of data. There was no sign of it ever existing as Kakera rose to her feet.  
  
"Kakera, are you okay?" asked Tobira as he and Rai ran over to her.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied as she shook herself off. "But who saved me?" They looked over to the man now rising to his feet as well.  
  
He was dressed in a long brown coat that blew in the wind. He had black pants and a dark grey shirt that showed muscles buldging out. At his side was a long sword, with small lines coming up each side of the blade. He turned to look upon the group, and Kakera saw he had spiked up black hair. But what truly entranced her was his dark brown eyes that shined with kindness and concern.  
  
"You shouldn't have been running around in an area beyond your level," he said as he sheathed his sword. "Luckily I'm out patrolling for newbies in trouble. By the way, my name is Aoshi. Welcome to the World." 


	5. Chapter 4: Blademaster

AN: Hi again all. It seems this story is going to be a lot longer then I expected, especially after a twist I'll be putting in farther down the line. I'd like to thank alphaskiier, Neo, and Trinity7 for their reviews. ^_^ I hope you enjoy the next chapter!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from .hack or My Life as a Teenage Robot. I do own the online personas of Kakera, Aoshi, Tobira, and Rai.  
  
.hack//dimensions  
  
Chapter 4: Blademaster  
  
"Uh, thanks for you help," said Kakera, as the group sat around a campfire in the area, Chosen Forbidden White Devil. "I would have been done for if you hadn't shown up."  
  
"No problem," replied Aoshi, wiping down his blade. He turned towards Rai, and continued to speak. "A lot of newbies tend to go over to areas beyond their level. Good thing you didn't try and go to a level 30 area on one of the other servers."  
  
"Heh, well I'm not that stupid," joked Rai.  
  
"Well, you're pretty stupid anyway," muttered Tobira as he wiped down his staff with a bit of his robe.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean!?"  
  
Through this entire conversation, Kakera couldn't keep her eyes off of Aoshi. To Kakera, the blademaster appeared to be the most amazing person she had ever met. He emanated a kindness and a willingness to help that Kakera had never noticed in anyone else before in her life. He smiled at Rai's reaction to Tobira's comment, and Kakera wished that that smile would never end.  
  
"Yoo-hoo, Kakera?" said Tobira as he waved his staff in front of her face.  
  
"Huh?" Kakera jumped up. She was so entranced by looking at Aoshi that she had not noticed that everyone had stopped talking and were peering at her.  
  
"You back in reality now?" asked Rai in a concerned voice.  
  
"Oh, sorry," said Kakera, shaking her head. God, I must look like such an idiot in front of Aoshi, she thought. I have to make a good impression on him...  
  
"I have a big sword!" she yelled. The group gave her a quizzical look, and she slumped down again. Great, now he knows I'm an idiot.  
  
"I have a big pointy stick," said Tobira, trying to liven up the mood. "I got it in the first dungeon me and Rai went into."  
  
"Can I see?" asked the blademaster. Tobira handed over his staff and Aoshi examined it. "Yeah, that's a pretty good one for a beginner." He handed it back and continued. "When you get to a higher level you'll be able to get to harder dungeons, they have amazing items in there."  
  
"Really?" Tobira smiled and began to think of the really cool staff he would one day use.  
  
"So do you three want to go to another dungeon?" Aoshi asked, getting up.  
  
"Don't ask me to pick one again," said Rai. "I don't think I can be trusted."  
  
"Don't worry, it happens to everyone," said Aoshi. "Let's head back to Mac Anu, I can help you all out in a few areas."  
  
"Alright! Now we have three fighters to protect m... err, fight for us," Tobira cried. Kakera got up with the others, and in four yellow lights, they disappeared from the area.  
  
************************************************************  
  
"Aoshi, where did you have in mind for us to practice?" Kakera asked. She was attempting to sound smart again so that Aoshi would not think she was some kind of dunce.  
  
"Well, there's..." Aoshi was cut off as a huge group of players ran towards them. Rai, Tobira, and Kakera turned to see who was so eager to meet them, when they noticed the entire group was made up of girls.  
  
Screaming fan girls.  
  
"There he is! Aoshi!" screamed a wavemaster in the front of the group.  
  
"Shit, they found me again!" Aoshi ran off away from them deeper into the city. "Rai, I'll email you the area, I'll be there in as soon as I can!" He was soon out of sight of the group, but the large mass of girls could still be seen chasing him.  
  
"Ok, that was weird," commented Rai.  
  
"I knew he was good looking," said Kakera. "But I didn't know that he had that many people after him."  
  
"So you've met Aoshi the Blademaster as well, haven't you?" A twin blade walked up to them, smirking, and continued to speak. "He's a bit famous around here. He's helped out quite a bit with the administrators and newbies. His avatar is really unique too, so a lot of girls think he's hot. Besides that, he's amazing in battle. Most people would give an arm and a leg just to say they knew him."  
  
"He saved me," said Kakera, still staring into the distance.  
  
"Well, he's heroic as well," replied the twin blade. "You should feel lucky that you three met up with him. Well, I gotta go." The twin blade walked up towards the chaos gate and left.  
  
"A strong fighter huh," said Rai, sneakiness in his voice. "Well, I am glad he decided to hang with us for a bit then.  
  
"He's heroic," whispered Kakera. She sighed and her cheeks turned red.  
  
"He's just some guy," mumbled Tobira, kicking the pavement. "Rai, did we get an email from him yet?"  
  
"Oh, yea," said Rai, startled out of his thoughts. "Ok, I got an email to meet him at some area. Let's go!"  
  
***********************************************************  
  
The three friends stepped out of the beams of light, and walked out into an open green field. They could see what must be the opening to the dungeon in the distance, but the field appeared empty except for a few trees and what looked to be a pond in the distance.  
  
"This is a lot nicer then the area you picked out Rai," said Kakera, gazing about. "There doesn't appear to be many monster portals either.  
  
"This area's level must be lower then the one we were in before," remarked Rai.  
  
"Good, then no scary dragons!" squeaked Tobira.  
  
"I hope Aoshi got away from those screaming fan girls," sighed Rai. "He seems like a nice guy, and I don't think he wants all that attention."  
  
"Yeah, I hope he gets away too," said Kakera, not really listening.  
  
A twinkling sound echoed through the area, and the group turned around to see Aoshi come through a yellow portal. He was panting and his hair looked like it had been through a tornado. He wiped his black bangs out of his eyes, and spoke to them.  
  
"Sorry about that," he apologized. "One of the players decided to start some sort of 'Aoshi Fan Club', and now I don't get any rest in that server."  
  
"Do you have a record of being a playboy around here?" joked Rai, toying with his blades.  
  
"I guess that some of the girls decided I deserve worship because I've helped them out. Ugh, it gets annoying though. All I want to do is play the game."  
  
"Uh..." Kakera felt guilty now. She thought she liked Aoshi, but she didn't want to cause him problems like those other girls. I'll just cherish the time I have with him here, and obsess about him in the real world. She grinned and brought her attention back to the conversation.  
  
"Worry about that later," said Rai. "You were going to help us out in this area, right?"  
  
"Yeah," Aoshi muttered. "Okay, first let's go over some basics with the World. In the battle you had with that dragon, I noticed that Tobira was hiding behind his staff the whole time."  
  
"Wait, you were watching us?" asked Tobira.  
  
"Yeah, because I wanted to see how much you guys were capable of before I jumped in. If I thought you could handle it, I wouldn't want to butt in where I wasn't wanted. Anyway, Tobira hid behind his staff for most of the time."  
  
"But I didn't want it to eat me!" piped in the indignant wavemaster. "Besides, I couldn't attack it well, I was just there to try and heal Rai and Kakera."  
  
"Not true. Tobira, not only do you have healing moves, but you have offensive spells as well."  
  
"Really? You mean I can attack too?"  
  
"Huh? Didn't you look at your ability screen?" asked Rai.  
  
"Uh, not really," admitted Tobira. "I just saw the healing spell first so I decided to use that..."  
  
"What! You mean you could have helped us against that dragon?"  
  
"It wouldn't have mattered anyway," said Kakera. "You saw how our attacks didn't do anything against that creature."  
  
"You're right Kakera," said the blademaster. She blushed at Aoshi complementing her. "Your levels are far too low to fight those monsters. However, if you had continued those attacks and managed to survive long enough, then you may have beaten it. Its HP would have been whittled down little by little. The main problem was obviously level difference, which is why we are here. This area has monsters for your ability, and by fighting monsters here we can increase your level."  
  
"Awesome!" cried Tobira. "Let's start at that portal!" He ran past Aoshi towards a round spinning yellow portal in the distance. As the wavemaster got closer, the portal began spinning faster, until a small yellow goblin appeared. It looked up as Tobira stopped in his tracks, and the creature smiled at him with a toothy grin. The goblin raised its right arm, which held a large wooden club, and started to run towards Tobira.  
  
"AHHHH!" screamed the wavemaster, running away from the goblin. All courage he thought he had had left him in an instant.  
  
"Come on Tobira!" encouraged Kakera. "It's only a little goblin!"  
  
"Use one of your offensive spells!" advised Aoshi. "Stop, aim, and fire!"  
  
"Ok..." panted Tobira. He stopped and turned towards the goblin. Raising his staff, he pointed it at the creature. Bolts of lightning sprang from the blade, hitting the goblin dead on. The goblin cried in pain and raised its club towards Tobira once again.  
"One more time!" yelled Rai. "You can do it!"  
  
With more determination this time, Tobira called forth the lightning again, and it struck the creature. It once again cried out in pain, but broke into bits of data in mid scream.  
  
"I did it!" said the triumphant wavemaster. A message appeared over his head saying he had gained experience. The message appeared over Kakera and Rai as well.  
  
"Huh? Why did we get experience too?" asked Kakera.  
  
"You, Rai, and Tobira are all in a party," replied Aoshi. "When a member of a party defeats a monster, every member of the party gains experience no matter what. That's why a lot of newbies attach themselves to high leveled parties in an attempt to gain experience easily. But don't even ask me to do something like that." The blademaster smiled towards Kakera. "I prefer it when people prove that they are willing to work towards a goal the right way, and not take any shortcuts."  
  
Kakera melted under Aoshi's warm smile. iIf that's the case Aoshi,/i she thought. iThen I will do all I can to become strong in this game and impress you./i  
  
"So do you want to do a few more battles?" asked Aoshi to the group.  
  
"Oh no!" cried Rai. "I can't now. I didn't realize how late it was. Tobira, we have to get off, Dad's going to kill us for staying up this late as it is."  
  
Kakera checked her own clock in the real world and gulped as well. "I have to ch.... err, go to sleep now too. We all have school tomorrow, and I'll be dead enough as it is."  
  
"All right then," said Aoshi, shrugging. "I should probably call it a day too. Here, I've sent you all my member address. Do you want to meet up tomorrow night?"  
  
"Sure!" agreed Tobira, Rai, and Kakera. The group said their goodbyes, and four beams of light, left the area into Mac Anu, and immediately back out into the real world. 


	6. Chapter 5: Popularity

AN: Hi again. Well, apparently I got into a huge writing spree after school and managed to write the fifth chapter. So here is chapter 5 a few days early. XD I had a lot of brainstorming today for later chapters, and three new characters have been developed (one being a guest appearance by a friend of mine). So read, review, and enjoy! Btw, if I happened to have mixed up Brit and Tiff's descriptions, please let me know. Thanks!  
  
.hack//dimensions  
  
Chapter 5: Popularity  
  
Jenny reluctantly removed the headset as she logged out of the world. She turned off the computer and sat in the chair a moment, staring at the screen.  
  
"Aoshi..." she whispered, remembering his face. Jenny couldn't believe that she had met someone like him, someone so amazing in an online RPG. Heroic, kind, and not to mention cute. She sighed as she melted into the chair, the happiest she had ever been in her life.  
  
"Tomorrow I'll meet him again," she said to herself. "I'll get done anything else I have to do in a flash, and then hurry to the game. I have to talk to him, to look at him." She sighed a bit and got out of her seat. "I may be getting obsessive, but I want to find out all that I can about him."  
  
Jenny headed out of the room and into her own. She lay down on her bed, and closed her eyes. "Aoshi..." she whispered, a smile on her face. The house was silent except for Jenny and her thoughts of the blademaster, the one whom she wished to be with now.  
  
**********************************************  
  
The alarm clock rang early in the morning, and Jenny jumped out of bed. "Yes!" the robot cried. "After school I get to play the game and meet Aoshi again!" She shook her head, trying to wake the rest of the way up. "No time to celebrate yet. I have to get through school first."  
  
Jenny ran out of her room, grabbing her orange backpack, which had not been opened since taking out the game yesterday, and ran downstairs. In the kitchen she grabbed some motor oil and drank it down. Jenny noted that her mother was not yet home.  
  
"The convention must have run later than I thought," muttered the teenage robot. "Well, I expect she'll be home by the afternoon. Heehee, guess I get the house to myself longer than I expected." Jenny looked at the clock, and ran out of the house. As she reached the yard, her pony tails turned into rockets and she flew off towards school.  
  
The skies were empty except for a few birds, allowing Jenny's mind to wander a bit. She imagined a time in the World, where Kakera and Aoshi were alone together, unhampered by anyone else. They would walk through Mac Anu without any raving fan girls, and Kakera could gaze into the eyes of Aoshi.  
  
Jenny shook her head clear of the daydream as she approached the school. With a flick of her legs, she landed in the front lawn of the school.  
  
I'm gonna have to get my mind out of daydreams, she thought to herself. If I don't pay attention in class, I may get detention, and then it'll be even longer till I see him.  
  
"Hey Jenny!" called out her best friend, Brad, from the top stairs of the school. He wandered past the groups of students, huddled in groups, talking. He finally made it to the bottom of the stairs where Jenny stood.  
  
"Jenny, you wouldn't believe it!" he said.  
  
"What happened Brad?" she asked.  
  
"Almost everyone in the school started playing the World last night! That's all everyone has been talking about. I've already heard five people talk about how they went into a really hard level and died. Now I'm really glad we met up with Aoshi."  
  
"Yeah, I'm glad too. And we get to meet up with him later!" Jenny smiled dreamily, and Brad raised his eyebrows at her.  
  
"I know you like him Jenn, but you have to remember that we only met him online. He could be anyone, and you don't know what he may think of you, or what he'd want to do to you."  
  
"I know," said Jenny, sighing. "But you gotta give me a break for having a crush on him. Hell, you saw how many fan girls were chasing him."  
  
"Yeah, and I think a few of them go here," replied Brad.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"A bunch of the popular girls have been huddling together, talking about him. They all think he's 'dreamy' and shit. Ugh, at this rate I'll never get a girl interested in me."  
  
"Oh, I think you'll find someone eventually," said Jenny, smiling. "Besides, if someone does get with Aoshi, all the other girls will have to back off."  
  
"True, true...."  
  
"Jenny!" said a boy at the top of the stairs.  
  
"Oh, hi Sheldon," said Jenny, looking up. The geeky boy had to maneuver, like Brad, down the stairs past large groups of talking students. Sheldon was having a much harder time then Brad had though. Some people had moved out of the way when Brad came through, but it looked as if hardly anyone would acknowledge Sheldon's presence.  
  
"Whoa, I didn't realize that there would be this many people interested in the game," he said, as he finally reached his way to the bottom of the stairs.  
  
"Yeah, I guess your posters worked," said Jenny. "I didn't even realize that so many people from our school were in the World when we were on."  
  
"Oh, so you guys tried it out then?" asked Sheldon, smiling. "What did you think?"  
  
"It was awesome!" yelled Jenny, suddenly excited. "I met up with Brad and Tuck, and we went to this dungeon..."  
  
"And we met up with this huge monster," said Brad, jumping in. "It was way higher than our level..."  
  
"Ah, so you went to a really high level?" said Sheldon. "You're not the only people who did that. Actually, I..."  
  
"Yo Sheldon!" said a boy on the stairs, interrupting him. "You got any other copies of this game? I wanna try it out!"  
  
"Sure," replied Sheldon. "I have a few more copies in my locker." He turned back to Brad and Jenny. "I'll see you guys later!" Sheldon then ran off once more into the crowd of people on the stairs. The boy followed him, and they were soon out of sight as they made it to the top and walked into the building.  
  
"How many free copies did he get?" wondered Brad.  
  
"Enough to get a ton of people interested," replied Jenny. "Come on, the bell's going to ring soon." The two wandered up the stairs and went into the building.  
  
The hall they entered was lined on both sides by red lockers. People were everywhere, talking, rummaging through their lockers, or just standing around. Jenny noticed that many of the lockers had "The World" posters on them, and there were several on the student bulletin board too.  
  
"There are still this many up?" said Brad, impressed. "Usually people tear down anything Sheldon puts up the second it's there."  
  
"I guess people got interested?" said Jenny, shrugging her shoulders. "I mean, you said it yourself. Everyone in the school is talking about it."  
  
"Yeah, I guess."  
  
As they walked down the hall towards Jenny's locker, they saw a large group surrounding two girls. Jenny could see as they got closer that it was Brit and Tiff, aka the Krust cousins, the most popular girls in school.  
  
Brit was a tall black girl, with short silky black hair. She appeared very prim and proper, with bright red lipstick on. She had two pearly white front teeth sticking out of her mouth as well. Tiff was about half the size of Brit, had light skin, and black hair in two ponytails sticking out under a red cap. She had heavy black eyeliner on, and many earrings and studs sticking out of her ears. Spiked bracelets adorned her wrists.  
  
One of the reasons they were so popular was because they were always on top of the latest fashion, and had new clothes all the time. Today, Brit wore a bright yellow sweater with a large neck that rolled down to reveal her shoulders. Deep blue bellbottom jeans were on her legs, and she had high heeled black shoes. Tiff wore a dark red t-shirt with the name of some new popular rock band on it. Her black jeans had rips and tears in them, and a bright silver chain hung down her leg. She had black sneakers to complete the look.  
  
Brit and Tiff were surrounded by their usual group of girlfriends and admirers, and were enjoying the attention just fine. Brad had learned to ignore them long ago, but Jenny still liked to try to fit in with them and become popular herself. She was so busy thinking about Aoshi, that she did not notice when Brad stopped behind her to listen in on the conversation.  
  
"Brad? What are you doing?" she asked.  
  
"Shh! Jenny!" he said. "They're talking about the World. Brit and Tiff are playing it too!"  
  
"What?" Jenny had never thought that Brit and Tiff would play a video game of any kind. But of course they are into anything that is popular at the moment, she thought to herself. And from the looks of things, the World is probably the most popular thing around here now. Jenny went next to Brad to listen into the conversation for herself.  
  
"Well of course we've been playing the World for a few weeks now," said Brit nonchalantly to the group. "My father got us spots to be beta testers for the new server, so we are well set up in the game."  
  
"What classes are you?" asked a blonde girl in the front of the group.  
  
"I'm a Heavy Axeman of course," replied Tiff. "I go by the name of Akumu in the game."  
  
"I have been playing as a Spearman, going by the name of Youkai," said Brit, smiling.  
  
"So are you all here to find out about the club or what?" asked Tiff in an irritated voice. "We need more members; we're only at 3,427 now."  
  
"A club?" whispered Jenny to Brad.  
  
'"Shh..." he said still listening intently.  
  
"Yes! Tell us about the Aoshi Fan Club!" said a brown haired girl near the back.  
  
"Aoshi..." whispered Jenny, shocked.  
  
"Why of course," replied Brit in a kind voice. "The Aoshi Fan Club has been formed to learn all we can about the mysterious blademaster, and get him for ourselves."  
  
"Because everyone knows," cut in Tiff. "That Aoshi is a sexy beast."  
  
"Tiff and I are the leaders," continued Brit. "So if we ever 'capture' Aoshi, then we would get to be with him first. But all are allowed to join and will be allotted time alone with him."  
  
"So they are the ones who led the group that was chasing Aoshi," said Jenny, pulling out of the group and taking Brad with her.  
  
"You should have expected that," said Brad, shrugging. "He said himself that he was popular in the game, and you know how Brit and Tiff are about anything or anyone that is popular."  
  
"Yeah, I know," sighed Jenny. "But I just hope they don't get what they want this time. Not for mine, but for Aoshi's sake."  
  
"I thought your number one priority would be to be the one to get to Aoshi first."  
"You heard what they said about him. Putting dibs on him and passing him around like a toy. That would be awful for anyone."  
  
The bell rang, breaking the conversations of people as they headed towards their classes.  
  
"We'll worry about it later," said Brad, turning towards his first class. "I'll see you later when we get into the game."  
  
"Alright," muttered Jenny. Now her daydreams of Aoshi and Kakera together would not reappear all day. Instead, they would be bad dreams of Brit and Tiff and their group tearing Aoshi apart.  
  
**************************************  
  
Jenny flew home from school that day exhausted. She had hardly seen any of her friends all day, not even Sheldon, who made an effort to meet up with Jenny between every single class. A fire downtown, two laboratory experiments gone horribly wrong, and an alien attempting to kidnap the mayor had kept Jenny from doing anything much at all that day. She would have to make up all the work for the classes she had missed that day tonight, along with all her homework that was due tomorrow.  
  
"Ugh, I'll be lucky to get this all done and still have time to sleep," she muttered as she landed in front of her house and walked in.  
  
"Hello XJ-9!" said a smiling Mrs. Wakeman as the robot girl walked in. "How was your day?"  
  
"Exhausting," replied Jenny as she sank into a chair. "How was the convention?"  
  
"Amazing! After the speech I had dinner with these esteemed scientists who designed many of the earlier models of the hovercraft, then spent the evening with some of the members of the National Science Foundation. This morning I was meeting with one of the creators of the MMORPG 'The World'..."  
  
"'The World'!?" said Jenny, jumping up.  
  
"Yes, a very interesting fellow. I had no idea how much work into developing that game."  
  
"Oh no! I forgot I was going to play that later!" Jenny ran upstairs to her room, her book bag on her shoulder. She slammed the door to her room so she could jump into her work and get it done as quickly as possible.  
  
"Hmmm," said Mrs. Wakeman to herself. "It seems that his theory on the game causing people to suddenly seem wakeful and set on a task in order to play the game was a true one indeed. Interesting..." 


	7. Chapter 6: Monster Battle

AN: Sorry for the delay everyone! Life has been hectic lately, and I experienced a large amount of writer's block with this chapter. Not to worry though! All the Aoshi, Rai, Tobira, and Kakera goodness is in this chapter. ^_^ Not making any promises when the next chapter will be up, but I'm hoping sometime next week. Thanks again to all who have reviewed, and as to the one with the guess who Aoshi is... no comment! XD All will know in time who the mysterious bishounen is. Anyway, read on, review, and enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from My Life as a Teenage Robot or from the .hack series. I only own the online personas of Kakera, Aoshi, Rai, and Tobira.  
  
.hack//dimensions  
  
Chapter 6: Monster Battle  
  
A few hours later, Kakera walked out of the chaos gate into the water capital, Mac Anu. Even though she was now in the game, she appeared exhausted.  
  
'That must have been the fastest it's ever taken me to do my homework before,' she thought to herself. 'Ugh, but it still took me almost four hours! I hope I can find Rai, Tobira, and Aoshi after all this.'  
  
Kakera walked down the long brown stone lined street towards the river that ran down the center of the city. There were many players looking among the shops, but Kakera wasn't interested in that. She walked towards the edge of the water and sat down. Her feet dangled above the lapping waves and her reflection staring back at her.  
  
"Ugh, what should I do?" moaned Kakera. "I don't know how I can contact the others now."  
  
Kakera looked around, hoping for the site of a long green haired twin blade, or a little wavemaster with flaming red hair. She secretly wished for a sight of the black haired blademaster, but she pushed her thoughts against that. If Aoshi was around here, a million fan girls would be chasing him.  
  
It turned out that none of these friendly faces did appear, so after about ten minutes, Kakera got up from her spot by the river. "I'll never find them if I just sit here," she muttered.  
  
Kakera suddenly heard a 'beep beep' sound. She looked around her, wondering where it came from, but it appeared that no one had heard the sound as well.  
  
"What the hell was that noise?" she asked to no one in particular.  
  
"A newbie, I presume?" said a voice from behind her. Kakera turned to see a short heavy axeman, with long golden hair and red battle armor. She smirked at Kakera's helplessness. "What kind of sound did you hear?"  
  
"Uh, it was just a small 'beep beep' noise. I'm not sure what it was," confessed the heavy blade.  
  
"Sounds like you just got an email." The woman smiled. "It happens to the best of us when we're new. Just look in your menu, and you should be able to read it."  
  
"Alright," said Kakera, and her eyes began moving as if reading something. "Thank goodness! It's from Aoshi. Now I can find him, Rai, and Tobira."  
  
The woman's eyebrows rose a bit. "Ah, good. Well, I'll see you later!" The woman started walking away, but Kakera called back.  
  
"Wait!" The heavy blade caught up with the short warrior in a quick run. "I just wanted to thank you. I really would be lost otherwise."  
  
"It's no problem," replied the warrior. "Say, what's your name anyway?"  
  
"I'm Kakera."  
  
"Kakera... Well, seeya!" The heavy axeman disappeared almost instantly, and before Kakera could say another word, she was gone.  
  
"Wait... I wanted to know your name." She sighed and started walking towards the chaos gate. "I better not worry about it. I have to meet up with Aoshi and the others. Now I have the name of the area, so it should be easy to find." She stepped in to the blue chaos gate and in a yellow light, disappeared from the root town.  
  
**************************************************  
  
"Hyah!" screamed Rai as he brought his blade down upon the neck of a worm creature. It was large, pink, and slimy, and was at least twice the size of Rai. It's mouth showed hundred of teeth, all reaching out towards the twin blade. Despite all this, it actually appeared that Rai was winning.  
  
"Come on Rai!" encouraged Aoshi from the side lines. "Tobira, help him out with one of your spells!"  
  
"Alright," said Tobira, reluctantly. He was some 30 feet from the creature, yet he was still completely frightened. The wavemaster raised his staff, still shaking, and pointed it towards the worm. Fire suddenly engulfed the creature, and Rai had to jump away at the last second to get out of the way of the blast.  
  
"Watch it Tobira!" Rai yelled. He was about to yell at his little brother some more, when he noticed the worm suddenly stopped moving, and broke into thousands of bits of data.  
  
"Tobira! You defeated it!" praised Aoshi.  
  
"I won?" said the confused wavemaster. "I won!" he screamed triumphantly. "Woohoo! I won!" The little wavemaster started to run around, yelling and skipping in joy for his triumphant act.  
  
"A little obsessive, don't you think?" commented Rai after he had walked over to where Aoshi stood.  
  
"Hey, you gotta give the kid a break," said Aoshi. "That was the second monster he's ever defeated, and the first he hasn't run away from in fear today."  
  
"Yeah, I guess you're right."  
  
A slight twinkling sound echoing through the area caused Aoshi and Rai to look behind them. They both smiled to see the friendly face walking out of the yellow portal.  
  
"Glad to see you could make it Kakera," said Aoshi, still smiling.  
  
"So you managed to finish all that homework?" asked Rai.  
  
"Of course!" piped Kakera. "It took me awhile, but I finally got it done."  
  
"Excellent! Now you can join in the party Aoshi, Tobira, and I formed. Tobira and I have already gained two levels each while you were gone."  
  
"Ah! That means now you're all stronger than me!"  
  
"Bit of a change, huh?" joked Rai.  
  
"I'm gonna assume that Kakera is the strongest of your little group in the real world then?" asked the blademaster.  
  
"Uh, well, I guess you could say that," confessed Kakera, sticking her arm behind her head. 'I don't want you to know the truth for awhile though Aoshi,' she thought.  
  
"Um, if you gained two levels Rai," quickly said the heavy blade, trying to change the subject. "Then how come Aoshi didn't gain two as well?"  
  
"Well, I'm at a much higher level than you guys," answered Aoshi. "If I fight low level monsters, I will get a lot less experience than the rest of you. So while Rai and Tobira may have gained, say, 350 experience points, I may have only received 1 or so."  
  
"Whoa, big difference."  
  
"Exactly. That little catch was added into the game so that high leveled players would not gain levels at a much faster speed than lower leveled players. If they are stronger, they can defeat more monsters faster, thus gaining experience quickly. Instead, I have to fight a high leveled monster to gain as much experience as Rai and Tobira did."  
  
"Just how high a level are you anyway?" asked Rai in a curious voice.  
  
"Um, well." Aoshi blushed a bit. "Level 57."  
  
"What?" cried Rai. "How did you get that high a level?"  
  
"A lot of practice playing and many long hours. Once you get the hang of the game, you'll be surprised how much you can play and how quickly you will become strong."  
  
"Oh, I hope so."  
  
Kakera had drifted into her own thoughts again during the conversation. 'Level 57...' she thought. 'He really is strong. Oh, I hope he decides to stay with our group. But he may get bored with playing with such low level players. I'll just have to gain levels as quickly as possible!'  
  
"Come on!" cried Kakera in a determined voice. "Let's fight some monsters already!" The blade master drew her large blade, with triangle marks shining in the sun, and lifted it over her shoulder. She started running with great speed towards the nearest spinning yellow gate.  
  
"Wait Kakera!" yelled Rai after her. "You forgot to get added to our party!" He started to run after her, but Aoshi put a hand on his shoulder to hold him back.  
  
"Let's see how she does on her own," he said, his voice slightly mystified. Rai gave Aoshi a gaze of wonderment, then turned back towards the sight of Kakera running into battle.  
  
The heavy blade shot past Tobira, who was still dancing about. The little wavemaster stopped and looked at Kakera as she shot past. He smiled and started cheering for his friend, in hope that she too would defeat a monster.  
  
Kakera reached the spinning monster portal, and gazed up at it with determined eyes. The portal started spinning faster and faster, until it disparaged in a flash of light, a little ping the only memory of existence. In its place appeared a large moth monster. It had a grey body, large pink wings, and a fuzzy pink area in the middle where its wings were coming from. Two small brown antennae grew from the top of its head. A few brown sickly arms stuck out from its body as well. It was a little larger than Kakera, and was now hovering a few feet in front of her, readying itself for the girl's first move.  
  
"A stinking bug?" laughed Kakera. "I can take care of that in my sleep." She raised up her sword over her shoulder, and eyed the creature. "I'll just get it out of the way and get the experience!" With a battle yell she ran towards the insect, her sword raised. She brought down the blade upon the torso of the beast, but it moved out of the way a split second before the blow could hit.  
  
"Huh?" said Kakera, stopping in her tracks. "Why didn't it hit?"  
  
"Kakera! Look out!" cried Tobira, shaking his staff.  
  
"What...." Kakera was cut off as the moth struck her in the back in a dive, knocking Kakera to the ground. The moth flew up again, and circled, preparing another attack.  
  
"Ow!" moaned the wounded heavy blade, raising her body from the dirt. She shook her head to get the dirt off of her face, and looked up at the monster. "Ugh, how am I supposed to hit it now?"  
  
"Kakera!" called Aoshi, as he ran up next to Tobira. "That moth is a flying creature, so it can move quickly and get out of your range. You're going to have to use the targeting system on it."  
  
"How can I.... ah!" Kakera dived out of the way as the moth came down again towards her. It continued to fly upwards again as Kakera landed on her back.  
  
"Just look in your menu," explained Aoshi. "You can set it to target the monster, so you'll have a better chance of hitting it."  
  
"Got it," replied the wounded heavy blade as she reached for her sword. She jumped up and eyed the moth, circling above. "So I just check the menu and... there!" She raised her sword again, but now Kakera was more determined then ever. Her eyes were on the monster's every move, never leaving its sight. Suddenly, the moth dove again, straight at Kakera. With a slight movement of her arms, Kakera swung the blade directly in contact with the moth as it was about to attack her in the back of her head. The creature cried out in a tremendous squeal, and burst into bits of data.  
  
With a sigh, Kakera dropped the blade and landed on the ground on her tush. Aoshi, Tobira, and Rai ran over, all eager to give congratulations to their comrade.  
  
"That was amazing Kakera!" said the eager Tobira. "You got it in one hit!"  
  
"Awesome!" exclaimed Rai. "Must have been a critical hit!"  
  
Kakera was happy to hear the words of her two best friends, but she was most eager to hear what Aoshi had to say. She turned to look at him, and saw he had a huge smile on his face. His eyes seemed to be gleaming. Was he proud of her? Or was it....  
  
"PING!"  
  
Kakera broke away her gaze and looked up above her head. Blue letters said her experience had risen, but there was a golden one as well. It said "Level Up!"  
  
"Alright Kakera!" yelled Tobira with glee. "You got enough experience for a level up already!"  
  
"Thanks Tobira," said Jenny, sounding slightly dazed from all the excitement. "But I wouldn't have been able to do it if Aoshi hadn't of told me about the targeting."  
  
"No," cut in Aoshi, his voice sounding full of joy. "You did it all yourself Kakera. The targeting system only goes so far. To land a shot like that, you had to keep all your energy and focus on the monster, which you did. That was amazing."  
  
Kakera was speechless. Aoshi had thought she was amazing. "Thanks," she whispered, staring at him.  
  
There was an awkward moment of silent where Aoshi and Kakera were gazing at each other, when Rai broke it.  
  
"Uh, guys," Rai said. "Tobira and I have to go; our dad limited our online time after what happened last night.  
  
"Oh man!" yelled Tobira, enraged. "I wanted to go level up some more!"  
  
"Don't worry Tobira," said Aoshi, breaking his gaze with Kakera. "You can always do more tomorrow."  
  
"True..."  
  
"Kakera, do you have to go to?" asked Aoshi.  
  
"Nnno," stammered the heavy blade. "I finished all my homework; I can stay on for a little while longer."  
  
"Alright, then I'll see you two tomorrow!" said Rai.  
  
"Seeya!" said Tobira.  
  
As the yellow portal appeared and whisked the brothers away, Rai stared back at Kakera, worry on his face. 'I hope you know what you're doing Jenny,' he thought.  
  
Then, they were gone, leaving Aoshi and Kakera alone in the area.  
  
All alone. 


	8. Chapter 7: Dungeon

AN: Ah, now the longest chapter to date has come. (They keep getting longer, I think it's a curse. o.O) Anyway, I present Chapter 7, now with 200% more Aoshi goodness! Please read and review!  
  
.hack//dimensions  
  
Chapter 7: Dungeon  
  
Kakera was the first to speak after the others had left. "Umm," she said, looking at the ground. "What do you want to do now?"  
  
"Do you want to try your hand at some more battles in this area?" asked Aoshi in a calm voice. Kakera looked at up him for only a moment, as her face was very red. Aoshi appeared to have recovered from their awkward moment earlier, and appeared eager only to continue playing. 'Well,' the heavy blade thought to herself. 'I guess I can only hope for that one moment to see him blush. I mean, we've only known each other for two days, so what should I expect of him?'  
  
"Sure," replied Kakera, her face becoming a little less red as she continued to speak. "I need to catch up in level with Rai and Tobira, and of course I eventually need to catch up with you."  
  
"Heh, well, it shouldn't take you too long to catch up with the other guys. However, it may take more time to catch up with me." He smiled playfully and started walking behind Kakera. "However, I don't know how long any of that could take if you just sit there on the ground."  
  
"Hey!" yelled the heavy blade indignantly. "I'm only sitting here cause I lost a lot of hp when that monster attacked me."  
  
"But you'll gain it all back as you walk around you know."  
  
"Huh? I...." Kakera glanced around a moment, and then jumped up. "Fine, then let's take a walk and find some monsters to battle!"  
  
"Now that's more like it," commented Aoshi in a cheery voice. "Come on, we can head over there." The blademaster pointed to a small stone fort in the distance. A few brown poles stuck out of the ground around it, holding bright yellow and red flags that were blowing in the virtual wind.  
  
"What's that?" asked Kakera, obviously confused.  
  
"That my friend is the entrance to the dungeon. After seeing you handle that moth, I think that you're ready to handle a harder situation."  
  
"How is fighting monsters in a fort a harder situation?"  
  
"That fort has multiple levels that head deeper and deeper underground. Each level has chambers containing treasure chests and monster portals. Those chambers with monster portals lock when you go in, and you cannot leave unless you defeat the creatures, unlike where you can try to run away in the field. The other thing is to get out, you either have to get to the end and get the treasure, walk all the way through the dungeon again, or use an item called a sprite ocarina to transport yourself out."  
  
"Jeez, is there anything else?"  
  
"There will be a statue at the end, called the Gott statue, which has a great and rare treasure. There may also be a boss, an extremely high leveled monster, which guards the treasure. Now, are you ready for the challenge?"  
  
Kakera thought about it a moment, and then nodded. "Hey, what have I got to lose?"  
"Well, only the experience you've gained, but we'll save before we go in so there will be no chance that you will lose that level you gained earlier."  
  
"Alright," said Kakera. The two looked in their menus for a moment to save their games, then began walking towards the dungeon entrance.  
  
The two walked most of the way in silence, the only sounds in the area the background music and the pattering of their feet. Aoshi walked slightly ahead of Kakera, and the heavy blade kept her eyes on Aoshi's feet trotting forward.  
  
'What do you really think of me Aoshi,' she thought. 'I thought I had you figured out, but then that gaze.... Were you just proud of me, or was it really something more? And what do I think of you? I mean, I think that you're really cute and all, and you have a great personality, and you're heroic, and... Ah!' Kakera shook her head vigorously to clear her thoughts. 'This is not the time or the place to think about it. Aoshi is here; I should talk to him and play the game.'  
  
"Um, Aoshi?" Kakera asked, her voice no louder than a whisper.  
  
"Yeah?" replied Aoshi, looking back and slowing his steps so he could walk next to the heavy blade.  
  
"Um..." 'I gotta think of something to say!' she thought. 'Not about that, but I want to know more about him.'  
  
"Why did you start playing 'The World' anyway?" she finally asked.  
  
"Well I had heard a lot about the game before I actually started playing. It sounded great, a place where you could fight monsters, meet people. I guess I just started doing it to make new friends. What about you?"  
  
"Uh, well, a friend of mine found about it and told me to join. I wasn't sure if I wanted to play at first, but I love it now." Kakera dropped her gaze from Aoshi and blushed a bit.  
  
"I'm glad you like it," replied Aoshi, simply smiling. Kakera's face became redder as she walked, and her mind began to race.  
  
'Gotta get a hold of myself,' she thought. 'But at least this is the most coherent conversation I've ever had with Aoshi!'  
  
"Here we are," said the blademaster, startling Kakera out of her thoughts. The pair stopped and looked at the fort in front of them. The cold grey stone building seemed out of place in the huge rolling fields, and the idea of what lay below sent a slight chill down Kakera's spine. Dangerous situations may seem like nothing when she was Jenny, but she realized that as Kakera she was much weaker and likely to have to be saved instead of doing the saving.  
  
"Are you ready to head down?" asked Aoshi. He had taken his sword from its sheath on his back, and the metal glowed in the sun. Kakera noticed the thin lines that came across each side of his blade glowed a deep golden color in the light, causing her eyes to focus on the blade instead of Aoshi. 'Those lines must help him in battle,' she thought. 'If an enemy only focuses on the blade instead of all the movements of a person, then they would surely be at a disadvantage!'  
  
"Kakera?" asked Aoshi, waving his hand in front of her face. "Do you want to go down?"  
  
"Uh, yeah," said Kakera very quickly. She unsheathed her own blade and lifted it over her shoulder so she could carry it easily. "Let's go!"  
  
Aoshi nodded and started running towards the entrance of the fort. Kakera followed shortly behind him. The entrance was easily 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide, no light coming out from the inside. Aoshi ran in, and Kakera gulped a moment before following.  
  
They stepped into a plain hall, the stone grey walls from the outside continuing on, the floor a dark grey stone covered with scattered dirt.  
  
"There is never anything in the first hall," commented the blademaster. The next one may have monsters. You ready?"  
  
"Ready as I'll ever be," muttered the slightly frightened heavy blade.  
  
"Don't be so worried!" said Aoshi, patting her on the head. "These monsters will be about the same level as the ones outside."  
  
"But the one I fought outside almost killed me!" cried Kakera indignantly.  
  
"You forget two things. First, you have gained a level since you fought that monster, which means you have more of an advantage than you think. Second, you have me in your party now to back you up if need be. Don't worry; I won't let anything happen to you."  
  
"Thanks Aoshi." Kakera's face turned red again, but this time she did not hide her face, and gazed at Aoshi. The blademaster had a slight smile on his face, but did not seem to notice her blushing. 'Either that or he doesn't mind it," thought Kakera.  
  
"Let's go!" cried Aoshi, and he ran into the next room.  
  
"Aoshi, wait!" yelled Kakera as he followed him. The heavy blade ran in, straight into Aoshi, causing her to fall to the ground.  
  
"Ow," she muttered, but was shushed by Aoshi. Kakera looked up to see Aoshi gazing intently at the spinning portal ahead. His deep green eyes reflected the glowing portal, and Kakera followed her gaze to it spinning in the center of the room. Kakera didn't understand why he was staring at it so intently, until she noticed something wrong with it.  
  
The usual yellow monster portal was still yellow, yet through it were small lines, like ripped stitches. In them Kakera could see many 1's and 0's, which must represent the data of the portal.  
  
"Are those what boss portals look like?" whispered Kakera after she had lifted herself up.  
  
"Not at all," replied Aoshi, his voice showing only the slightest bit of alarm. "Boss portals should be the same as any other monster portal, the only difference .being that they are in the final hall of the dungeon. But, this can't be the final hall, as I have been in this one numerous times and it is three stories deep. I think..." Aoshi shuddered, turning his gaze away from the portal and towards Kakera.  
  
"I think that the virus from a few years ago has returned."  
  
Kakera shook her head in confusion. "What virus? Aoshi, what the hell are you talking about?"  
  
"A few years ago there was a virus in the system of the World that caused players to fall into a deep coma for weeks and months on end. It is rumored that some of those in comas were still in the World, or at least their personalities were as characters. But that should have been fixed long ago. They stopped expansion of the game to other areas because of it."  
  
"Comas..." whispered Kakera in alarm. "Aoshi, we have to get out of here!"  
  
"Right," he replied, turning towards the entrance they had come through. The blademaster had stopped in his tracks, for the entrance was gone, and there was no sign that it had ever existed. He quickly looked about the other entrances to the room, but they were all gone as well. "Shit," he muttered.  
  
"What about those sprite ocarinas you mentioned earlier?" said Kakera, obviously frightened. If the virus caused humans to go into comas in the real world, who knew what it would do to her since she was a robot.  
  
"Right." Aoshi put his hand into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out two light brown ocarinas and threw one to Kakera. "Just hold it up and it should work." Kakera nodded and they held them up.  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
"Shit!" yelled Aoshi. "Even if this is a boss battle, even a sprite ocarina should work. Whatever virus is in that portal has infected the entire dungeon."  
  
"Can't we just turn off our terminals to get out of the area?" asked Kakera.  
  
Aoshi simply shook his head. "There is a small chance that the virus could infect us only by doing that. There is only one option." Aoshi held his sword out in front of him. "We'll have to fight!"  
  
"But Aoshi, are you sure? Can't we just turn off the console...?"  
  
"Even if it didn't infect us it could spread to the rest of the areas of the World, and who knows what could happen then? Who knows what its first victims might be!" Aoshi turned his deep green eyes towards Kakera, showing determination with a hint of fright. "This is my world, and I will fight to protect it!"  
  
"Aoshi..."  
  
'He knows that this virus may take him down,' thought Kakera. 'But he is willing to sacrifice himself to save the other people who are playing the game. Don't I take the same chance every day when I help in the real world? This may be a different dimension, but I'm still the same person, and I should help.'  
  
"I'll help you too Aoshi," said Kakera assertively. "If you're going to risk your life to save others then I will too."  
  
Aoshi looked at her with worried eyes, but eventually nodded consent. "Alright, but if anything happens and I'm defeated, don't stay. Turn off the console if need be, just get out of here any way you can!"  
  
"If I can still fight, then I will stay."  
  
Aoshi sighed at her statement, but nodded. "I understand. Just try not to get hurt, okay?"  
  
Kakera smiled, trying to bring some light into this gloomy situation. "I'll do my best."  
  
The blademaster did not take a backwards glance, but started running towards the corrupted monster gate. It suddenly started spinning faster until a large monster stood in its place. The monster was three times the height of Aoshi, and appeared to be some type of ogre being. It's heavily armored body showed no sign of flesh except at the joints of the armor. Its face was covered with a large helmet, the grates covering its face. The strangest thing about it was its coloring. It was a mix of green, pink, white, red, brown, and blue. The color appeared to be some kind of liquid on its body, the colors constantly changing and corrupting it.  
  
Aoshi continued running, but did so around the creature, obviously examining it for a weakness. Kakera glanced at the health gauge of the creature and gasped in surprise.  
  
"The hp of the creature is gibberish," she said. "It's only a mix of a ton of different symbols."  
  
"It's completely corrupt," responded Aoshi. "We'll have to take it down the best we can."  
  
With that, Aoshi jumped up from behind the ogre and sliced it at the joint at its arm and shoulder. The ogre cried out a small roar, and groped out at Aoshi with one of its large hands. The agile blademaster jumped out the way, right onto the creature's head. It hit itself in the head as Aoshi jumped off of it right as the hand came out towards him again.  
  
Meanwhile, Kakera shivered slightly from the sideline. Aoshi looked completely at ease in the battle, but the heavy blade was worried. 'This monster may appear stupid, but with that hp, it'll just take time before it takes a hit at Aoshi.' 'But maybe I can help remedy that situation by getting in there myself.' With that, Kakera lifted her blade and ran towards the beast. As it was still preoccupied with Aoshi, it did not notice the heavy blade slice its flesh between its leg and foot. It cried out and turned towards her, thus leaving Aoshi with time to attack.  
  
"Time to try something else," the blademaster whispered, and pointed his hand at his blade. Black swirling energy started swirling about his sword, echoing moans through the room. "Nightmare Banisher!" Aoshi yelled as he jumped up and landed the blade in the monster's shoulder joint. The creature grunted, but continued to try to fight the two warriors.  
  
'That must have been one of Aoshi's abilities,' thought Kakera. 'If that can't bring the monster down at all, then what can?' She pondered this for a moment as she moved out of the way of the creature's foot. "Aha!"  
  
"Aoshi!" she cried across the room. "We both need to try abilities against it!"  
  
"How would that help any?" asked the blademaster.  
  
"If its data is corrupted, then it might not be able to handle the data of two simultaneous complicated attacks."  
  
"It's worth a try," agreed Aoshi. "Alright, you take the back, I'll take the front. You have an attack ready?"  
  
"I think I have something I can use," answered Kakera as she scrolled through her abilities list, one eye still on the ogre.  
  
"Alright, on the count of three then we will bring on the onslaught of attacks." Aoshi ran from the side of the beast to the front of it. Kakera meanwhile ran behind it. The ogre brought its arm upon Aoshi as he stopped, and the blademaster had to hold his blade up to stop the attack. Sweat began to pour down his face as he tried to hold up the blade, as the monster refused to let up.  
  
"Aoshi!" cried Kakera, completely concerned.  
  
"Damn it! Just charge your attack!"  
  
"But...."  
  
"I can try and charge it while he's doing it. Just do it! It's our only chance!"  
  
Kakera nodded reluctantly and held her blade in front of her. She concentrated, and bright orange flames suddenly appeared about the blade. She glanced over and saw that Aoshi's blade was becoming dark as night once again.  
  
"Now!" screamed Aoshi as he dropped the blade and rolled out of the way of the fist. He raised his blade again and started running towards the right arm, while Kakera ran to the left.  
  
"Nightmare Banisher!" cried the blademaster.  
  
"Flame Tempest!" cried the heavy blade.  
  
The two attacks hit at the same time, and the ogre roared loudly. As the two jumped off the creature and landed on one side of the room, the creature seemed to bulge. Suddenly, the virus bits broke off, disappearing into tiny bits of data, and were soon gone from sight. The ogre now stood there in its natural dark blue coloring, and also broke into bits of data. In less that a minute, there was no sign there had ever been such a diseased creature in this room.  
  
"We did it..." whispered Kakera, too stunned to move.  
  
"It's gone," sighed Aoshi.  
  
The two stared at each other, as silence echoed through the room. Then, they burst out laughing.  
  
"Hahaha, we could've died!" laughed the blademaster.  
  
"But we didn't!" shrieked the tired heavy blade. The two jumped around in joy until they ended up in each others arms. There they stopped and gazed at each other.  
  
Kakera had known that Aoshi was handsome from a distance, but here he was the most beautiful person she had ever seen in her life. He glowed with affection for her, as she did for him. Aoshi held an expression of total love, his eyes beaming and lips slightly a quiver.  
  
"Kakera..." he whispered.  
  
Their intimate moment was ended by a twinkling sound from above their heads. The two looked up to see the Exp. Gained signs, but there were glowing yellows above their heads as well.  
  
"Level Up," said Aoshi, looking over his head.  
  
"3 Levels Up," said Kakera in a shocked voice.  
  
"Well, it was a strong monster."  
  
"Heehee, it must have been if it took that long to defeat."  
  
"Well if we meet one again it will be easier."  
  
"Oh Aoshi! Don't say things like that!" laughed Kakera as she broke away from him.  
  
"Hey," replied Aoshi, smiling. "It's always a possibility. I think that's enough for tonight though. I don't want to see what the rest of this dungeon holds. Let's get out of here."  
  
"Yeah, let's." Kakera reached out and took Aoshi's hand, and they smiled at each other as they walked out of the now reappeared doorway and out into the field. 


	9. Chapter 8: Conspiracy

AN: Well, it's been awhile. On vacation, I ended up having to write this chapter twice, due to my Dana going crazy and deleting everything. However, I prefer this rewrite anyway. It took me awhile to get it up because of finals and just busy with school. In this chapter, we meet Taka, who is inspired by my friend Allison, because she wanted to be in the fic. XD So read, review, and enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from .hack or My Life as a Teenage Robot. I do own the online personas of Kakera, Aoshi, Rai, Tobira, Akumu, Youkai, Jamie, and Taka.  
  
.hackdimenions  
  
Chapter 8 Conspiracy  
  
The stars were just beginning to shine as Kakera and Aoshi stepped out of the dungeon and into the field. The sky was a deep blue; the only light that of the stars and the crescent moon. The two warriors walked hand in hand into the field, no particular path in mind, their thoughts only drifting into the night and into the light of each other's hearts.  
  
"Aoshi," said Kakera, breaking the silence of the night.  
  
"What is it?" replied Aoshi, sounding concerned. He turned towards Kakera and stopped. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"Nnno, nothing." Kakera shook her head, and was glad for the night to hide her blushing features.  
  
"Hmm, it's getting late now," continued Aoshi. "Maybe we should both log out and call it a night."  
  
"Oh! Is the great and powerful blademaster Aoshi actually, dare I say it, tired?" Kakera broke her grip with him and collapsed into the ground in laughter.  
  
"Humph," replied the blademaster in a joking manner. "Maybe I wouldn't be so tired if a certain heavy blade had helped to take care of that monster."  
  
"Excuse me?" laughed Kakera, sitting up. "I thought that you could take care of anything that got in your way."  
  
"Don't believe everything you hear about me." Aoshi smiled down at her. "People aren't always right."  
  
"So you're not as strong as they say then?"  
  
"Well I didn't say that."  
  
"Well I think that you're wrong." With that, Kakera pulled the blademaster down to the ground, and rolled him over, pinning him to the ground with her body. "Now would the "strong and mighty Aoshi" not notice that attack coming at him?"  
  
"I never said I was quick to see attacks. But I'm rather good with counters." Aoshi kicked up his legs, knocking Kakera into the air to land on the ground behind him. He then sprung himself up to land on top of the heavy blade, pinning her to the ground.  
  
"That's why I always win," said the blademaster smoothly.  
  
"But you're the one who isn't getting the prize," said Kakera.  
  
"Prize? What prize would that be?"  
  
"This." Kakera leaned up and gave Aoshi a kiss on the cheek, before even she could realize what she was doing. She blushed and continued. "That's why I always win."  
  
"Who says that you have won?" Aoshi smiled and leaned down to plant a kiss of his own on her cheek. "Both of those were great prizes to me."  
  
"Aoshi..." Kakera whispered, a great feeling washing over her. 'Is this love I'm feeling?' she thought. 'Aoshi, are you the one for me?'  
  
Aoshi blushed and looked away. "I've never done that before," he admitted under his breath.  
  
"What?" asked Kakera, sitting up a bit.  
  
"Kissed someone before. I mean, real life or virtually."  
  
"Really?" Kakera was shocked. "But, with all those fan girls, I thought that..."  
  
"I've never talked to any of them, I don't know them, and they don't know me." He looked towards the heavy blade. "They may think I'm god or something, but I'm not. I'm just another person playing the game. And this..." Aoshi pulled at his clothing. "This is just a mask. They expect me to be exactly like this everywhere, but I'm not. If they really want to love me like that, then they should find someone else."  
  
Kakera could not help looking at Aoshi now. 'He's right,' she thought. 'He may not be exactly the same in the real world. I mean, look at me. But then why...'  
  
"Aoshi," said Kakera, sounding slightly unsure. "If you feel that way, then why did you kiss me?"  
  
"Because Kakera," said Aoshi. "You're someone I trust, someone who has seen more sides to me than any of those stupid fan girls. And well.... I like you."  
  
Kakera stopped breathing, too shocked to speak. 'He likes me?'  
  
"Look, I'm sorry," said Aoshi, getting up. "I gotta think about this. Seeya tomorrow, Kakera." He looked back one last time, then disappeared into a yellow portal.  
  
"Aoshi!" called Kakera a moment too late. "I.... I like you too." The heavy blade sighed. "He really is deeper than I thought, but I think I love him all the more for it." She rose to her feet and stared at the sky. "I will be here for you Aoshi," she whispered to the stars. "I'll let you know who I am if you want, I just want to be with you." Kakera shook her head. "I better think about this some more as well." With that, a yellow portal appeared and Kakera disappeared from the area, drifting back to the real world to become Jenny once again.  
  
"Well isn't this interesting..." said a voice from a group of bushes close to where Aoshi and Kakera had once been. They rustled a moment and out stepped the tall blonde heavy axeman, the one who had helped Kakera before.  
  
"So that bitch is having a fling with the great Aoshi then," she said to herself. "This will not do. This will not do at all. The only fling that my love god could possibly have would be with me or the great mistresses." She clenched her fists and snarled. "When I get my hands on that bitch I'm gonna..." She stopped short and grinned. "No, let her have a worse punishment. I will tell the mistresses, give them my report. They will know what to do, and they will do what they do well. And for the information, I will be rewarded greatly, greatly indeed. Aoshi will be mine, and he will have Jamie, the Heavy Axeman Spy for the Aoshi Fan Club, as one of the first of his many flings with our members. You will be mine Aoshi, you will be mine."  
  
"Who do we want?"  
  
"Aoshi!"  
  
"When do we want him?"  
  
"Now!"  
  
"Who do we want?"  
  
Chants echoed through the stone hall in the water capital, Mac Anu. The baize stone auditorium was filled from wall to wall with tons of players. Heavy axemen, blademasters, wavemasters, heavy blades, twin blades and spearmen were everywhere. Although the majority of the group was female, there were a few guys scattered about the group as well. They were all seated around a large stage on one side of the room, where a podium stood backed by red curtains. There was no one on the stage except for a tall female spearman on the side, standing guard. A young male heavy blade led the chants with a large drum at the foot of the stage, his eyes constantly glancing behind him for the approach of his mistresses. A female heavy axeman beside him cried out the chants while he pounded the drum.  
  
Quiet ensued in the room as the drum began pounding louder and louder, increasing in speed. Suddenly, it stopped, and the spearman called out in a large booming voice: "The ladies Youkai and Akumu approach!" With this call, every person in the room rose to their feet and turned towards the stage in attention. The curtains on the stage opened slightly at the center, than closed again swiftly after two figures entered, a tall spearman and a slightly shorter heavy axeman.  
  
The spearman had a dark skin color and short spiked pink hair. She wore nothing more than a blue sports bra and incredibly short denim shorts that would not be considered decent anywhere. Her shoes were flat and black. in color, with no extra decoration whatsoever. She had a few tattoos, one a stripe crossing across her stomach around her bellybutton. The other tattoos where triangles coming up each of her cheeks. Two small pink bat-like wings came from her back as well. She wore an expression of superiority as she carried a huge brown spear, the blade a hand span long and bright silver in color. Right below the blade was tied green and yellow ribbons that hung down a ways.  
  
The heavy axeman had very pale skin, but the same bright pink hair. Her hair, however, was much longer and was put up in two ponytails on the sides of her head. They were held up by yellow scrunches. She wore a pink armor bra, and over that a denim shirt that only barely covered her shoulders, and did not go more than an inch below her bra. Her small denim skirt was just as indecent as the spearman's, small pink triangles adorning the end of the fabric. She wore the same black shoes as her friend, and the same tattoos were on her as well. Her wins were slightly longer than her counterparts, but otherwise looked the same. Her look of superiority was just as strong as that of the spearman, but showed foreboding of a different sense. The blade of her axe clutched in her left hand had small cracks on the outside, making it look worn and broken. On closer inspection however, the blade appeared very sharp and ready to endure a long battle.  
  
"Welcome all to the meeting of the Aoshi Fan Club!" called the spearman called out to the audience. Cheers erupted at these words and continued for some time until the spearman told them to calm down with some hand motions. "Mokumu and I welcome you all to this meeting, to worship the character known simply as Aoshi."  
  
"Yeah yeah, we get it already Youkai," said the heavy axeman. "But we do have business to take care of first before any drooling over Aoshi can take place."  
  
"You're right Akumu, of course. Now then, it appears that over the last couple days, Aoshi has been spending time with a group of newbies, named Kakera, Rai, and Tobira. We thank Member #327, Jamie, for this information. We sent her out to track this group some time ago, and she should be reporting back any time now."  
  
From the back of the auditorium came a loud slam from the door. The audience turned to see the blonde heavy axeman storm into the room, the marks of tears that had been shed on her face. She stopped at the foot of the stage, and stood at attention. "Jamie, Member #327 reporting. I bring word of Aoshi and the group of newbies."  
  
"Come onto the stage and report then," said Youkai. Jamie walked up onto the stairs, placed her hands behind her back, and began to report.  
  
"After gaining the tracer device for Kakera after meeting her, I located the group in one of the lower leveled areas. There, the heavy blade Kakera was apprehending one of the moth monsters, and was being cheered on by the twin blade Rai, the wavemaster Tobira, and Aoshi. She defeated it in a critical attack, and was congratulated by the group. From my position I could not catch any of the comments that were said."  
  
"Get to the point already," said Akumu impatiently.  
  
"Yes of course," continued Jamie. "Soon after, Rai and Tobira left the area, and Aoshi and Kakera were left alone." Gasps echoed through the room. They had never heard of Aoshi being alone with one individual before. He had only ever been in a group or by himself. "They headed towards the dungeon in the area, so I followed some distance behind. Conversation was tried, but Kakera was very nervous. I could not follow the group into the dungeon, for when I reached it, the entrance was blocked, as if some kind of force field."  
  
"A virus perhaps?" suggested Youkai.  
  
"This is a matter we will look into at a later point," replied Akumu. "Please continue."  
  
"Well," said Jamie. "I stayed behind the building for some time, until the two emerged once again. This time they were holding hands as they walked out." Whispers erupted but Jamie ignored them and continued to speak. "It gets worse than that I am afraid. They appeared to flirt for a bit, and then...."  
  
"Then what?" interjected Mokumu.  
  
"She kissed him." Shouts and conversations exploded. This was something that should be only reserved for members of the Aoshi fan club, not some random newbie!  
  
"There is more," continued Jamie, trying to stay calm.  
  
"More?" questioned Youkai.  
  
"Aoshi..... he.... he kissed her back." Now there was only silence. This was something none of them had expected. "After that, they both left, Aoshi first, and then the bitch. I still cannot believe what happened."  
  
"Thank you," said Youkai, as calmly as she could. "Although this is sad information, I thank you for it. You will be rewarded appropriately." Jamie bowed to her mistresses, and then walked down the stage into the audience.  
  
"We must do something about this," commented someone in the audience. "Send someone to rid us of the bitch!"  
  
"A player assassin!" cried another. "Send a player assassin!"  
  
"That would only eliminate her for a couple hours," said another. "We need something more permanent, something to rid us of her for good!"  
  
"There is something, you know," said a voice from the back of the stage. "Will eliminate her for a day, and after continued attacks a week, a month, a year, and pretty soon, she will be gone." Everyone turned towards the voice to see a female twin blade.  
  
The girl was dressed in a yellow tank top that went down to just below her belly button. Her yellow pants had a zig zag design that went across them. A zig zag cross appeared on her shirt as well. Her hair was a bright green that hung down to her chin, but was held back by a yellow headband with zigzag triangles across it. She had yellow fabric sleeves tied on at her elbow with a purple thread which hung down past her fingertips. At the moment she was leaning against the side of the stage, twiddling a blade in her left hand.  
  
"Who are you?" asked Youkai.  
  
"Member #787, but you can call me Taka." The twin blade grinned and snatched her blade out of the air. "Professional player assassin at your service." She bowed mockingly, and then leaned back against the stage.  
  
"What do you mean by this method of keeping her out of the game?" asked Akumu.  
  
"Simple really," replied Taka. "Under the boundaries of the World, if a player is killed, he or she is locked out of the game for two hours, not to mention that anything that wasn't saved is lost. But by using a simple little virus, it fools that program into locking out the character for longer periods of time."  
  
"Interesting. Where did you come across that?"  
  
"Made it myself. I wanted to take care of a cheating little bastard boyfriend, so I used it a few times on him. He still has, oh, 6 more months before his lockout period ends."  
  
"Perfect," said Youkai. "You use this virus a few times on the bitch, and then we shall be rid of her. Only way she could come back then would be if she remade her character."  
  
"Not possible," countered Taka. "Not only does this lock out the character, it also damages the computer equipment. It would knock out the equipment for the same amount of time as the lock out."  
  
"Excellent. Well then Taka, I do believe that you know your assignment."  
  
"Not so fast ladies. There is still the matter of, oh, say payment?"  
  
"How does first alone time with Aoshi sound, before even I or Akumu." Akumu glanced up at Youkai disdainfully, but the spearman only grinned back.  
  
"Sounds fine to me," replied Taka. "I'll take care of the heavy blade. Tomorrow, the real game begins." 


	10. Chapter 9: Tension

AN: This is just a transition chapter in my opinion, so I hope you enjoy it even if it's not as interesting as the other ones. I still haven't decided how big I want to make the virus thing, although it will play a huge role later in the story. But as for Aura, well, we'll see where it goes. Anyway read, review, and enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from My Life as a Teenage Robot or .hack. I do own the online personas that I have created. (I'm tired of listing them, so on with the story!)  
  
.hackdimensions  
  
Chapter 9: Tension  
  
"Aoshi..." whispered the teenage robot in a dreamy sigh as she flew towards school. "I don't understand you, yet I want to know you so much. Aoshi..."  
  
Jenny had been up late the night before, thinking about what the blademaster had said. Did she love Aoshi because of his looks, or was it his personality? 'I love him for all that he is,' she thought. 'But what is he like in the real world? Is he completely different? If I meet him here, will I still feel the same?' She shook her head and began her descent as the school came into sight. "I don't have time to worry bout this now. I have to talk to him tonight, and think about it once I get to know him better."  
  
She landed gracefully on the lawn of the school, her rockets letting out a bit of smoke as they slowed. They quickly disappeared as Jenny fixed her hair.  
  
"I better tell Brad about all this first," she said to herself. "Now where is he?" The robot looked around, but she saw no sign of her red haired companion. The groups of people talking seemed even greater than the day before, and Jenny did not have to guess what they were discussing.  
  
"I just got a grunty!" said a short girl in a group nearby. "It's really cute, and it calls me Mommy!"  
  
"I found this awesome area," said a boy to Jenny's left. "It has tons of goblin monsters, and they all drop this weird armor."  
  
Jenny giggled to herself as she walked past them. 'That all may be neat,' she thought. 'But none of that can compare to fighting with Aoshi.'  
  
The teenage robot kept walking towards the building, keeping an eye out for Brad. "Maybe he's sick," she said to herself. "Or maybe... Ah!" Jenny tripped across someone as she was looking in the other direction. "Ouch," she muttered rubbing her head. 'Who walked into me?' she wondered.  
  
"Oh, sorry Jenny," said Sheldon as he got to his feet. He put out a hand for the teenage robot. "I guess I wasn't watching where I was going."  
  
'Thank god it was only Sheldon,' she thought. "My fault probably," Jenny replied. "I was looking around for Brad."  
  
"Oh, I saw him inside. He was sneezing a lot; I think he has a cold."  
  
"That would make sense for him not being outside then. It's allergy season, right?"  
  
"Yeah, that makes sense." Sheldon shrugged. "So, are you en...."  
  
"Sheldon, I got to go," said Jenny cutting him off. 'I really don't want to get caught in a conversation with him right now.' "Seeya!" She ran off towards the door of the school.  
  
"Uh, ok," replied Sheldon. Jenny didn't seem to notice his words and ran inside.  
  
The halls of the school were as crowded as usual, students stopping at their lockers and standing about to chat. Jenny noticed that there were twice as many posters for "The World" up than there were yesterday. Jenny ignored them and ran up to her locker, and spotted Brad waiting right by it.  
  
"Hey Brad. You okay?'  
  
"Yeah, I'm fi-" Brad stopped as he began to sneeze. "Ah-ah- ahchoo!"  
  
"God bless you," said Jenny. "Allergies bad?"  
  
"Yeah, I should have taken some medicine earlier." Suddenly the bell rang and the conversation had to end.  
  
"Jenny," said Brad. "I'll see you in "The World" later. You gotta let me know what happened last night!"  
  
"Alright," she replied. "I'll see you later!" She opened her locker to grab her books, then ran off towards homeroom.

* * *

Elsewhere....  
  
"So the plan is all set for tonight?" said Tiff, standing near the bushes outside of the school.  
  
"Yes," replied Britt. "Our player killer will take care of Kakera, and then report back to us. The virus will hardly be noticed, and she can continue to do this for a few days until..."  
  
"Until the bitch is gone and Aoshi is ours." The girls cackled, then walked back into the building.  
  
"So that's the plan," said a voice from the bushes. "I have to warn Kakera. I won't lose her that easily."

* * *

"Take that!" yelled Jenny, as she sliced the robotic ant with her chainsaw arms. Its head was sliced cleanly off and began rolling down the street. The rest of its body fell to the ground with a thud. Jenny changed her hands back to normal, and clapped them together.  
  
"Thank goodness that's over," the teenage robot said to herself. "That thing was just a nuisance, especially since it's taking away from my online time." With that, Jenny jumped up and had her hair transform into rocket boosters. She started towards home and thought to herself.  
  
'Jeez, I used to care more about taking care of problems in the city, but now... With this game, I have to start getting my priorities straight. I just hope another emergency doesn't pop up while I'm playing it. But if it's only a little threat, I'm sure that it can wait. I don't want to give up more of the game then I have to.'  
  
Jenny landed cleanly in front of her house, and then ran in through the door. Mrs. Winkman was busy going through a box of gadgets and gizmos in the front room, and didn't have time to look up as Jenny ran in.  
  
"HimomschoolwasgreatIbeatupagiantantwellI'mgonnagoplaythisgamenowsoI'llseeyoulater," said the teenage robot in a single breath as she ran in and up the stairs.  
  
"Wait a minute XJ-9!" yelled Mrs. Winkman as she turned away from the box, but Jenny had already ran up into her room and shut the door.  
  
"Oh, I can't wait to talk to you tonight Aoshi!" squealed Jenny in her room as she sat down and reached for her head set.  
  
"Just a moment XJ-9!" interrupted Mrs. Winkman as she opened the door. Jenny froze and turned to glare at her mother and creator.  
  
"What is it Mom?" she asked disdainfully.  
  
"I think you are becoming a bit too obsessive with this 'game'".  
  
"Excuse me?" Jenny put down the headset. "What are you talking about? I'm not being obsessive!"  
  
"Dealing with three emergencies today and not cleaning up the mess is unlike you XJ-9. Witnesses reported you came, did your job as quickly as possible, then left without a second glance, mumbling about this 'cutting into your online time.'"  
  
"Well, I want to have a life outside just saving the world!" Jenny said defensively. "Besides, it's not like you don't become obsessive with your projects all the time."  
  
Mrs. Wakeman raised her eyebrows and responded. "I have my priorities straight at least. My inventions are good for all of mankind, while your game is good for whom? No one!"  
  
"They're good for me! I help people all the time, so why can't I have some time just to relax and entertain myself? Is that a crime?"  
  
The scientist sighed and shook her head. "Still, I think that you are getting far too involved in this game young lady."  
  
"But..."  
  
"No buts young lady. You can play for two hours tonight, no more than that. And if you continue to act in this manner, I will lower the time to one hour or none. Now then, go play your game, but then don't worry or obsess about it anymore. It is only a game for Pete's sake." With that, Mrs. Wakeman turned around, walked out of the room, and closed the door behind her.  
  
"It's not just a game," muttered Jenny. "It's more then you can ever know, if only for Aoshi." She turned and turned on her console. She placed on her headset, to go into the world of her dreams, where even her mother couldn't touch her.

* * *

"Yo, Kakera!" called Rai as the heavy blade arrived in The World.  
  
"Hey Rai!" replied Kakera, running over to join the twin blade in a building near the chaos gate. The green haired twin blade was happy to see his friend, and for once in the game, was alone.  
  
"Where is Tuck, I mean, Tobira anyway?" asked Kakera.  
  
"He still had some homework to finish. His class has a group project on extinct animals. His group chose the common pigeon." Rai stuck his tongue out in disgust.  
  
"Uh, what's a pigeon?"  
  
"Well...." Rai began acting like a college professor as he spoke. "The pigeon has been known by many names, most often though as a 'rat with wings'. Until a few years ago, they were quite common throughout big cities. They were considered more of a pain then anything else though, because all they did was fly around and poop on cars. So the government tried to keep the population of this bird down by releasing lizards that ate the bird in large numbers. The lizards worked too well though and decimated the population of pigeons. They never recovered and died out."  
  
"But then weren't cities overrun by lizards?"  
  
"Nope. Without the pigeons, they died out as well. They're still around in some areas though." The twin blade shrugged, ending his lecture.  
  
Kakera raised her eyebrows at her friend. "Why do you know all that anyway?"  
  
"Tuck needed some help, so I did some of the research, and the writing, and the poster." He sighed. "He still has a lot to do though."  
  
"That's nice that you helped out at least."  
  
"Yeah, well, the kid owes me. I don't think he'll be able to get on tonight anyway. But he probably will tomorrow, seeing how it'll be Friday."  
  
"I didn't realize it's going to be the weekend already," said Kakera, surprised. "Well just more time to play the game." Kakera grinned at the thought of all the time she would be able to spend with Aoshi.  
  
"I don't think you'll have time to spend the entire weekend in the game Kakera," replied Rai. "Not only are there other things to do besides this, but won't you have to save the day and stuff?"  
  
"Oh, yeah..."  
  
"Don't worry about it Kakera. Just play it by ear."  
  
"Yeah, okay..." The heavy blade sighed. She'd been so sucked up in the game lately that she was beginning to forget about the real world. 'Rai is right though,' she thought. 'I can just play it by ear.'  
  
"Anyway, do you want to go to an area?" asked Rai. "We can train and stuff. Besides, I didn't get to talk to you today, so you gotta tell me all about what you did with Aoshi last night."  
  
"Aoshi!" yelped Kakera. "Wait, is he on?"  
  
"Uh, no. I already tried to send him an invite, but he's not on yet. He'll catch up with us later."  
  
"Oh, ok," said Kakera, disappointed.  
  
Rai raised his eyebrows at his friend. "Jenny, remember that you don't know who he is. I know you have a crush on him or something, but..."  
  
"How did you know that I like him?"  
  
The twin blade sighed. "Let's see: In class whenever I looked back at you, you were staring into space dreamily, saying 'Aoshi' ever now and then; you yelped when I mentioned him a moment ago; you seem to be spacing out more and more lately..."  
  
"Ok, ok, I admit it." She sighed. "I have a crush on him."  
  
Rai smirked. "If I were you, keep it to only a crush until you know more about him. Now come on, I found a nice area for us. You can tell me about last night when we're there." Rai took Kakera's hand, and the walked into the chaos gate. They disappeared in yellow portals, just another party in the World. Taka watched them from a corner of the square of surrounding the chaos gate. She grinned in the shadows.  
  
"I'll give you a little time to squirm Kakera, then you're mine."

* * *

"And that's what happened." Kakera leaned against the brown stone building that led into the dungeon in the area they were in. The orange sky matched the mood of the desert surrounding them. The heavy blade had told her friend everything, everything but the kiss that is...  
  
"That monster," muttered Rai. "Why would that be in that area?"  
  
"I don't know," replied Kakera. "Aoshi mentioned that it was like something that had happened a few years ago."  
  
"Did you report it to the system administrator?"  
  
"No, do you think I should?"  
  
Rai shrugged. "You might as well. That way they can at least look into it. I mean, if it can knock humans into comas, who knows what it could have done to you?"  
  
Kakera nodded. "I know, but I'm sure if anything did happen Mom could fix me."  
  
"Still Kakera, if I were in your position I would be more worried."  
  
"You seem to be worried about a lot of things lately Rai."  
  
The twin blade sighed. "I don't know why really. It's just..."  
  
Rai was interrupted by the sound of someone coming into the area through a portal. They looked around to see where the player who had come in was, but they couldn't see anyone in the area.  
  
"What the..." whispered Rai.  
  
"Peek-a-boo!" yelled a voice from above them. Rai and Kakera looked up to see a twin blade dressed in yellow. "Kakera I presume?" she said, looking down at them.  
  
"Y-Yes," replied the heavy blade. "Who are you?"  
  
The yellow twin blade smiled. "I'm Taka, but you can call me your worst nightmare." Taka jumped down to look at the two of them. "So this is the one Aoshi chose. Humph, he must not realize what he's missing out on. With people like me out there, I don't understand why he'd settle for some dumb broad like you."  
  
"Hey, who you calling dumb!" yelled Kakera.  
  
"Aw, did I strike a nerve there?" replied Taka innocently.  
  
"Listen here you," said Rai. "Leave Kakera alone. She never did anything to you."  
  
"Oh, you're wrong there little man. See, this girl has done enough to not only me, but to over 3000 girls in the World. And if you would please excuse me, I have some work to do." Taka jumped up in a back flip, then threw something at the unsuspecting Rai. Electricity ran through his body, and he crumpled to the ground. Electricity buzzed every few seconds through his body.  
  
"What did you do?" yelled Rai in pain.  
  
"Why it's just a paralyzing bomb. It's one of a kind, so you won't be able to move until someone uses the right antidote on you. And since that's my own creation, I'm the only one with the antidote."  
  
"You...' whispered Kakera, enraged.  
  
"Don't worry girl. I won't touch him for now. My attention is all on you." Taka flicked out her blades, which were hiding beneath her fabric sleeves. "Time for us to dance." 


	11. Chapter 10: Player Killer

AN: Got on a writing spree this afternoon, so here is the next chapter. I'm not sure how well I did with the battle description, but once I finally finish the fic I will go back and rewrite it. (That probably won't be for a long time though...) Anyway, read, review, and enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from My Life as a Teenage Robot or .hack. I do own the online personas of Kakera, Aoshi, Tobira, Rai, Youkai, Akumu, Jamie, and Taka.  
  
.hackdimensions  
  
Chapter 10: Player Killer  
  
"What the hell?!" yelled Kakera, as she dodged Taka's blade going straight for her leg. The yellow twin blade obviously wanted to get rid of Kakera at any cost, for she seemed to keep coming at the heavy blade as quickly as she could. Kakera started running, just trying to get away from the player killer.  
  
'I don't have a chance of holding up a defense against her,' thought Kakera. 'Her level must be far above mine if she was sent here to kill me. But how long can I keep up running?' The heavy blade took a chance to glance behind her for the twin blade. However, there seemed to be no one behind her.  
  
"What?" she whispered, coming to a stop. Kakera could still see the dungeon entrance in the distance, where Rai must still be sitting, paralyzed. But around her, all Kakera could see were a few lone spinning yellow monster portals, and some odd ruins here and there.  
  
"Where could she have gone? She was right behind me." A rustle to her left cause Kakera to glance over.  
  
The ruins there were simple rock formations. The layered rocks were scattered about, but the tallest stood ten feet high in the air. Kakera drew her sword and held it front of her defensively. If Taka was hiding amongst the ruins, then at least the heavy blade would have some sort of defense if the assassin jumped out. Kakera took a step closer to the ruins, pausing to listen for her foe. Then another step; a pause. Another...  
  
"Hyah!" Kakera jumped back as Taka jumped from the top of the ruins. Her twin blades were held out in front of her, ready to land a blow on Kakera. Taka landed quickly on her feet and jumped forward instantly. The heavy blade raised her sword to block the blades, and held fast with all her might.  
  
"Humph, you have fast reflexes for a newbie," commented Taka as she tried to push down with her blades. "Have you played games like these before?"  
  
"Just natural reflexes of mine," said Kakera quickly. "Why the sudden conversation?"  
  
"It's always fun to have a conversation with your victim, let's you understand why they need to die more." Taka grinned. "Of course, I never give any of my victim's sympathy because of something they say." Taka broke the standstill between them and quickly sliced Kakera's arm. The heavy blade cried out in pain.  
  
"Lucky for you that was a minor blow," laughed Taka. "If I had gotten a clean hit you would be dead."  
  
Kakera held her arm, trying to think. 'Talking might stall her long enough for me to use a Health Drink,' she thought.  
  
"Why is that?" asked the heavy blade. "What level are you anyway?"  
  
"Let's just say a lot higher than you." Taka stepped back and looked about ready to jump when Kakera spoke again.  
  
"But how were you able to get to such a high level? I'm sure you must have been playing this game for a long time."  
  
Taka stopped and smiled. "Well, I don't mean to brag, but I haven't been playing the game for a long time. I started playing, oh..." Taka looked up at the sky, thinking. While the twin blade was distracted, Kakera pulled out a Health Drink and drunk it down.  
  
"Three months or so. Of course I started killing players a month after I began but..." Taka finally noticed that Kakera was standing straight again, fully healed. Not only that, but she was running forward, straight towards Taka!  
  
Kakera swung with all her might at the agile twin blade, but Taka had fast reflexes as well. She dove out of the way of the sword, thus only allowing Kakera to get a small cut on Taka.  
  
"I must admit," said Taka. "You are quite skilled for a newbie. None have laid a cut on me in a long time. However, you still won't be able to beat me. That stupid little attack took barely any HP from me." Taka threw her twin blades into the air, and then caught them again, in a showy act. "But for causing me this injury, no matter how small it is, you will pay!" she roared, and ran towards the heavy blade.  
  
Kakera raised her eyes in alarm and started running back towards the dungeon entrance. 'Ugh, what have I done?' she thought. 'I should have just run when I had the chance, but now she'll be even more determined to do me in. Oh, what should I do now? Aoshi, where are you? I need you!'

* * *

The blademaster Aoshi arrived through the Chaos Gate in the Water Capital Mac Anu. Not even glancing at who was around, he walked into one of the alcoves in the Chaos Gate square, trying to hide in the shadows.  
  
"It's bad enough my computer wasn't working until now," he said to himself. "But now I have to hide if I want to try and contact Kakera. Ugh, if those stupid fan girls weren't in every root down..." Aoshi glanced out into the square, but saw no one he recognized. Just a few parties walking over to the Chaos Gate to get to some other areas.  
  
"There was no response to that flash email I sent her, so she must be in a battle or she's not here. I hope it's just that she wasn't able to get here. If that player assassin got to her, her character will already be dead and her computer will have a virus. I know I shouldn't worry about just a virus, but you never know what people can create anymore, especially since Deadly Flash." Aoshi shuddered at the thought of that virus.  
  
'Deadly Flash' had been a horrible virus that had infected computers many years ago, when Aoshi was only a child in the real world. Besides causing problems in almost everything involving computers in the world, it had also caused the deaths of seven people. Seven people, including Aoshi's mother.  
  
"Mom..." he whispered, shuddering at the memory. 'You were just going to go order something online for Dad,' the blademaster thought. 'You asked me to help you order it, since I was better at computers, but I said I was busy, that I didn't want to. And then you went on, and it happened... I should have been there for you. I should have been taken, not you.  
  
'Since that happened to you, why do I even bother still with the computer? Why do I risk playing this game, even after all the coma victims? Do I feel invincible or something?' He sighed. 'I guess I just wanted something to indulge myself in after you were gone. Dad still blames me, and I just wanted to get away from that. That and everything else.'  
  
A dinging sound interrupted Aoshi's thoughts. "Huh? An email?" An envelope appeared in his hands. He opened it to reveal an email from Rai.  
  
"What? This was sent almost two hours ago. I guess whatever was wrong with my computer also affected my email and delayed it." Aoshi read through it quickly. He raised his eyebrows as he read, obviously worried now.  
  
"Damn it," he whispered. "It says that if Kakera showed up, they were going to that area I told him about. Otherwise he would still be in the square. That must mean they are already there. If that player killer is any good, she'll already be down there too. I have to get there now." Aoshi threw down the letter and ran towards the Chaos Gate. A few people pointed at him, recognizing him, but the blademaster ignored them.  
  
'I won't lose her,' he thought as the yellow portal lights covered him. 'I won't lose someone else again...'

* * *

"Ah!" yelled Kakera as she ran from the rampaging twin blade. No matter how fast the heavy blade ran, Taka always seemed to be right behind her. 'If I could just get far enough away for the battle mode to turn off I could gate out. But then I'd have to leave Rai here, and I can't do that.'  
  
Kakera shuddered at the decision. 'It doesn't matter anyway,' she thought. 'It would take a miracle for me to get away from Taka.'  
  
"Come on little kiddy!" taunted Taka. "Don't you want to come and play?"  
  
"Not with you!" yelled back Kakera.  
  
"Humph, well, we can play another game instead." Taka jumped up into another pile of ruins, leaving Kakera to run off alone.  
  
"Where did she go now?" whispered Kakera. "She must still be close by; my battle mode is still on. Unless..." Kakera stopped and turned. A spinning yellow monster gate was right nearby. It started spinning faster and faster, as the monster was about to come out.  
  
'Shit, not now. Not when I have Taka on my tail and no help out here.'  
  
The monster gate suddenly vanished and two sword wielding creatures stood in its place. The one on the left was purple, and looked like a well dressed warrior, complete with armor. Its face was covered by a helmet, and in its right hand was a huge sword. The one on the right was identical, except its armor was a pale blue.  
  
"Shit!" yelled Kakera, holding up her blade. The two monsters ran towards her, and jumped up with their swords. Kakera rose up her sword to block it, and the blades came down...

* * *

Aoshi arrived in the desert area grim faced. The dungeon entrance was not far from him, and no other real landmarks were about.  
  
"Where could she be?" the blademaster asked himself. He ran over to the dungeon entrance, hoping that the heavy blade had not gone down below. But before he could check, he saw Rai, crumpled on the ground.  
  
"Rai!" Aoshi ran over to the twin blade. "What happened?"  
  
"Player killer named Taka," said Rai, breathing hard. "Came and threw some sort of paralyzing bomb at me. Then she started chasing Kakera. She wants to kill her."  
  
"Shit, I should have gotten here sooner." Aoshi reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out an item. "Let me see if I can get the paralyzing effect off you first."  
  
"What about Kakera?"  
  
"If the player killer had gotten her already, she'd have come over here to gloat about it before killing you. Kakera can hold her own for a few moments longer." He used the item in his hand on Rai, but the electric currents still were going through the twin blade's body.  
  
"What? That should have worked..."  
  
"Taka said the bomb was her own creation, and only she has the antidote."  
  
"Hmm..." Aoshi stood up and raised his hands up. His body began to glow, and then the glow was shot to Rai. The electric currents stopped and Rai rose to his feet.  
  
"How..." the twin blade began.  
  
"She may have the only antidote for it, but magic still works. That's an advanced technique that will cure any status ailment. I'm just thankful that it actually worked. Now come on, we have to find Kakera."

* * *

"Ugh!" Kakera jumped away from the attacking creatures. One had already gotten a hit on her, but she knew she wouldn't be able to distract them in time to use another Health Potion.  
  
'I have to get rid of them now,' she thought. 'It's the only way I'll be able to survive.' With that Kakera ran forward and attacked the nearest one, the blue monster. Red numbers appeared over its head, indicating the attack had worked. Kakera tried to hit it again, but was blocked by the creature's own sword. The purple one suddenly appeared behind Kakera and attacked her. The heavy blade screamed in pain, and attacked the blue one again, causing it to fall to the ground.  
  
'One down,' she thought. 'But I can't let this one attack me, or I will be dead.' The heavy blade turned towards her remaining opponent, her sword in hand. The monster faced her and began to glow, as if getting a magic spell ready. Without hesitation, Kakera rushed forward and hit it twice with powerful swipes of her blade. The monster stopped and turned gray. Its body fell to the ground, and then disappeared, defeated.  
  
"Whew," Kakera breathed a sigh of relief. 'Now if only I could get rid of Taka that easily...'  
  
"Kakera!" yelled a voice from far up ahead. Kakera looked to see Rai and Aoshi running towards her.  
  
"Rai! Aoshi!" she yelled back in greeting. 'Thank god they're alright. But why do they look so scared?'  
  
"Behind you!" yelled Aoshi, his eyes screaming with worry.  
  
"Wha-" Kakera was cut off by the feel of metal in her back. She froze as Taka pulled the blade out of the heavy blade's back, grinning with delight. Kakera fell to her knees on the ground staring straight ahead.  
  
'I'm gonna die?' she thought, as her body began to turn gray. She could see Aoshi and Rai stop dead in their tracks, shock on their faces. As the rest of her body began to turn to the gray stone, she could see Aoshi yell something and start running towards Taka with his blade raised. Before Kakera could see what was happening, her body was completely stone, and she was no longer there.

* * *

"Kakera!" yelled Aoshi. It had taken them some time to trek across the field, but they had finally found her. Thankfully, it looked like she was ok. But there was someone behind her...  
  
"Behind you!" he yelled again, as Taka snuck up behind Kakera. However, the heavy blade did not react fast enough. Taka stuck her blade in Kakera's back, killing her. Both Aoshi and Rai stopped dead in their tracks, horrified.  
  
"Kakera..." whispered Rai. "She died?" Her body was turning gray right before their eyes.  
  
"She's not in your party right now, or else she'd just turn to a ghost," whispered Aoshi, not even noticing that he was explaining. "That bitch. THAT BITCH!" Aoshi raised his sword and started running after the twin blade. Rai lifted up his hand to stop Aoshi, but the blademaster was already gone.  
  
Before Aoshi could even reach the player killer, Taka grinned and disappeared in a yellow portal. Aoshi stopped in place and fell to his knees, dropping his blade to the ground.  
  
Rai finally caught up to the blademaster. "She'll be alright, won't she?"  
  
Aoshi shook his head. "If that player killer stuck a virus on those blades, who knows. God, who knows..."

* * *

Kakera was falling, falling down an endless hole. Her eyes opened slightly to see the colors going by. 'Is this what it's like to die in the game?' she thought. 'I guess I better take off my headset then, the guide said you can't play for two hours after you are killed.' Her body remained motionless, and Kakera was suddenly afraid.  
  
'What? Why can't I move? I can't move in the real world! God, what's happening to me?' Suddenly, it was all gone.

* * *

In the real world, Jenny suddenly sat still as her character was killed. The computer screen read 'Life Over', only for a moment. Then, the machine shut off, the effects of Taka's virus already taking place.  
  
The controller fell from Jenny's hands and her body collapsed to the floor. Footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs, and then the door to Jenny's room was opened.  
  
"XJ-9, your time is up," said Mrs. Winkman. "Time to-" She stopped, horrified.  
  
"XJ-9!" she yelled getting down to check on the teenage robot. She removed Jenny's headset, but the robot's eyes were closed, and none of her systems seemed to be working.  
  
Taka's virus had worked too well. 


	12. Chapter 11: Discovery

AN: I'm back. And to commemorate my backiness, the next chapter of dot hack dimensions is here! (Real version of the title won't work anymore on here. -- Oh well..) Anyway, good chapter too, as it is... dun dun dun revealing Aoshi's real life form! Heehee, if you people haven't figured out who it was already, which I assume most of you have. Still.. huggles Aoshi-kun doll Anyway, here is the next chapter. Enjoy muchly all!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from My Life as a Teenage Robot or .hack. I do own the online personas of Kakera, Aoshi, Rai, Tobira, Jamie, Taka, Akumu and Youkai.

.hackdimensions

Chapter 11: Discovery

Two hours later...

"Ugh... what?" Jenny slowly opened her eyes. The ceiling stared back as her as she

tried to remember what was going on. "What... happened?" she whispered, trying to sit up.

"Stay still for a few minutes dear," said Mrs. Wakeman. "Now that your neural systems are back online, I can finally do some more tests on you."

"Tests?" Jenny sat up quickly, disregarding her mother's words. "What do you mean tests? What the hell happened?"

"I'm not sure as of yet. Only I came upstairs when your computer time was up and you were lying on the floor powered off. I couldn't get you back online until just now." Mrs. Wakeman stared down at the teenage robot. "Does this have something to do with that game?"

"The game?" Jenny thought back to what had been happening. _'I was running from Taka, and was distracted by those monsters. Then I saw Aoshi, and....'_ She stopped thinking, startled.

"What is it?" asked Mrs. Wakeman.

"Nothing, nothing." The teenage robot shook her head. _'I can't let her know I think it was because I was killed in the game,_' she thought, _'or she'll never let me play it again.'_

"At the moment I'm suspecting it's some sort of virus, probably from some monster you fought recently," said Mrs. Wakeman. "Remember when that cluster thing got in your system?"

"Ugh, yeah," shuddered Jenny. "That thing had me looking like an ape overnight." _'A virus? Hmm, from Taka?'_

"Ah well, it looks like it's done its damage for now, thankfully. Although I will have you staying home from school tomorrow to run some more tests."

"Uh, okay," said Jenny. "Tomorrow is Friday anyway, so thatmakes it a three day weekend for me." She grinned at the thought of playing the World for a whole three days.

"And when I'm not doing tests, there are a few things that need to be done around the house as long as you are home."

"Urgh, figures," whispered Jenny.

"What was that?" asked Mrs. Wakeman.

"Nothing, nothing! Umm, can I call Brad first though? To let him know I won't be there tomorrow and he can get my books and things." _'And so I can let him know what the hell happened. A virus had something to do with me being killed, and I need to find out what it was.'_

"Sure dear, of course. Just hurry it up; I would like to do a couple more tests before you go offline for the night."

* * *

The next morning...

Brad walked to school, still thinking about what Jenny had told him. '_A virus from Jenny being killed?'_ he thought. _'Was that just from Jenny dying, or was it from Taka? Aoshi suspected Taka, but how would he know about anything like that? Unless he's made some viruses himself...'_ Brad shook his head. "No," he whispered. "Aoshi cares too much about her to do something like that. And still, Taka had that thing because Jenny's with him. How far will these fan girls go to get to Aoshi? And how many people are they willing to hurt?"

Brad sighed and looked up to the school ahead. The mobs of people talking about the World were at it again it seemed. Talks of treasure, monsters, and leveling up seemed all over Tremorton High these days, but Brad didn't mind. "It is a cool game," he said to himself, looking at all the hot girls discussing some quest they took part in. Before making a move to go chat it up with them, Brad saw someone sulking on the steps in the corner of his eye.

"Huh?" He looked up to see Sheldon, arms around his knees and head in his lap, shaking slightly as if crying. "I wonder what's wrong with him?" Brad glanced at the girls again. "Urgh..." He turned and started walking towards Sheldon. _'Ugh, I'm too nice. He's probably sulking about something having to do with Jenny anyway, like how she isn't here or something. Well, might as well see what' wrong."_

"Yo, Sheldon?" said Brad, sitting down next to the kid. "You okay?"

Sheldon shook his head. He lifted up his head and wiped away tears with the back of his sleeve. "I'm... I'm fine," he said. "Just... worried."

"Worried?" asked Brad. "About what?"

"Eh, not a what. More of a who."

"Oh, thought so." Brad relaxed. "About why Jenny's not here today?"

"Huh?" Sheldon shook his head. "Uh, I didn't even notice. Why isn't she here?"

_'Not notice?'_ thought Brad. _'Something must really be wrong then.'_

"Well," began Brad. "Last night, I was playing the World with her. We were just hanging out in this one area, when this crazy girl showed up."

Sheldon raised his eyebrows and nodded.

"Anyway, she threw some weird bomb thingy at me, and it paralyzed my character. Then, she started chasing Jenny, trying to kill her."

"What?" whispered Sheldon.

"Really weird, I know," continued Brad. "Anyway, I didn't get to see what was happening until Aoshi showed up and got me out of that bomb. Then..." Brad stopped as he saw Sheldon begin to shake. "Yo, are you alright?"

"Is she okay?" asked Sheldon quickly. He grabbed Brad's arms and asked again, "Is she okay?"

Brad stopped and stared as the realization came over him. "Aoshi," he whispered.

Sheldon dropped his arms and turned away. "Please, just tell me if Jenny is okay. If Taka hurt her..."

"Jenny's fine," replied Brad quickly. "She was unconscious, or whatever the robot equivalent is, for a couple hours. She's just home today so her mom can give her a few more checks and have her do some hard labor. But Sheldon... Why didn't you tell us?"

Sheldon shook his head. "I didn't know... who any of you were. I should have figured it out." He looked up and smiled, small tears in his eyes. "Rai and Tobira, of course they're you and Tuck, who else would act like that. And Kakera..." He sighed. "God, I fell in love with Jenny all over again."

"Hey, she fell in love with you too," said Brad quietly.

"Huh? She..."

Brad laughed. "Man, wasn't it obvious enough? All she ever does is talk about Aoshi or think about him. I mean, the way she acts around you, don't you notice?"

Sheldon shrugged. "A little, but I don't notice as much when I'm _him_. All girls act the same around my character anyway."

"All?" Brad raised his eyebrows. "Jeez, I gotta borrow that character off you some time."

"Brad?" said Sheldon quietly. "Please don't tell her."

"Huh?"

"Please don't tell her who I am. I... I want to tell her myself, at the right time. If she knew who Aoshi really was, well, I doubt she'd ever talk to me again."

Brad paused, then simply said, "Okay."

"You will?" said Sheldon, slightly surprised.

"Hey, Kakera didn't want anyone else to know she was a robot in real life, so why can't I keep your secret too? Besides, I've seen how you act around Kakera, and well, I feel a whole lot better knowing who it is now that she's dealing with."

"Thanks Brad."

"One question though Sheldon."

"Yeah?"

"Why were you so worried about a virus if you didn't know it was Jenny and not another human?"

Sheldon sighed. "Well, viruses don't always affect computers and robots. Uh... Have you ever heard of deadly flash?"

Brad nodded. "Some huge virus that wiped out a ton of computers and stuff, nearly caused humanity to collapse in a way."

"Well, there was more than that that happened. It also caused the deaths of seven people."

"How could a virus do that?"

Sheldon shook his head and turned away from Brad. "I'm not exactly sure how. It varies. But it did kill seven, one of which was my mother."

Brad was shocked. "No wonder you were so worried about Kakera."

Sheldon nodded. "I lost my mother. I don't want to lose anyone else ever again."

Silence enveloped the pair. They both stared down at the ground, the sound of chattering students about them.

"Sheldon," said Brad, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?"

"I just want to say thank you for all that you've done for us in the World. Heh, if you hadn't of saved us from that dragon in that first area we were in, well, I don't know what would have happened."

"Heh," laughed Sheldon. "Well, it was pretty funny that you picked that level of all of them. You know, a lot of the, how can I put it, less intelligent newbies go to that area."

"Hey! What are you trying to say?" yelled Brad, jumping to his feet.

Sheldon grinned back. "Oh, nothing."

"Urgh, you know, if I didn't already know how tough your character was I'd kick your ass in the World right now."

The bell rang, and students began breaking up their groups to head into the building. Brad and Sheldon followed the others in.

"Well, if you were really smart," said Sheldon, "you would have beaten me up on the spot right there!" He then ran off down the hall to his homeroom.

"Hey!" yelled back Brad. "You just watch it!" The red haired boy laughed and walked towards his own homeroom_. 'Heh, at least the kid has a sense of humor. Still, I wonder what he goes through with his mom gone and all. I won't tell Jenny the truth, but still, even if she did know who he was, I don't think it would change a thing.'_

* * *

"A little to the left dear," said Mrs. Wakeman to her daughter. Jenny and her mother were down in the basement of their home. The scientist had finished her tests on Jenny, and was now moving in to the hard labor part of the robot's day home.

"Is this alright then?" asked Jenny, moving a large piece of computer equipment.

"Ah, much better." Mrs. Wakeman scanned the room. "Yes, I've needed to rearrange things down here for a long while. Now then, should we start on my secondary laboratory?"

"Mom! I've been helping all day or I've been having tests done by you. Can I please have a break already?"

"Well.... Alright. But I would like to get my secondary laboratory cleaned out tonight."

"Yeah yeah, sure Mom," hurried Jenny. "I'll help you a little later. Gotta go!" Jenny jetted out of the room, leaving Mrs. Wakeman alone in the dust.

"Honestly, that girl has no sense of priority," said Mrs. Wakeman. "Ah well, time to go polish some bolts!"

Jenny wasted no time in getting to her room and starting up her computer. "Finally," she said to herself. "I can get back in 'The World'. Hopefully I can talk to Aoshi; I hope he isn't too worried about me." The robot was about to click the login button, when she saw the email icon flashing on the screen.

"Huh?" She quickly opened it to reveal a message from Aoshi.

"'Dear Kakera,'" read Jenny. "'Please contact me as soon as you get back online. I may know what your attacker is up to. I'll be waiting in the Highland City Dun Loireag, root town of the Theta server. You can transfer to that server at the Chaos Gate. Hoping you are alright, Aoshi.' Oh! I gotta hurry over there." Jenny clicked the login button quickly, and placed on her headset to journey into the World.

* * *

"Ah, good to be back," said Kakera, walking out of the chaos gate into Mac Anu. "Now just to figure out how to get to the other server." She turned back to the spinning blue gate and checked through the menu options. "Ah! Theta server, root town Dun Loireag. Here we go!" In a yellow light, she was gone.

"Theta server huh?" said Jamie, hidden among the shadows. "Either she was smart enough to try and hide from Taka, or Aoshi is trying to help her. Hmm, well Akumu and Youkai will be interested to hear this. Now that we know she's on another server, it will be much easier for Taka to track the bitch down." The heavy axeman giggled, and then disappeared into the shadows again, going to find her leaders.

A moment later, Kakera arrived at the new server. The heavy blade stepped out of the chaos gate to gaze at what lay before her.

Dun Loireag was much different from Mac Anu. For one thing, the sky was a bright blue, with mountains to be seen in the distant horizon. There was no city per say, but a few scattered separate stores, which Kakera assumed to be item and weapon shops. Sure enough, there was Aoshi, along with Rai, leaning against the side of one of the buildings.

"Hey!" greeted Kakera, running over to her friends. "Well, I'm back."

"Glad to hear it," replied Rai, grinning.

"Thank god you're alright," said Aoshi, trying to keep a smile, but worry still shown in his eyes. "Di- Did anything happen to you?"

"Uh..." Kakera pondered a moment, then shook her head. "My computer turned off for a couple hours and wouldn't turn back on, but aside from that I'm fine..."

"That's good," replied Aoshi, the blademaster obviously relieved. "But your computer dying like that... Hmm, must have been a virus caused by Taka."

Kakera nodded. "That's what I thought. But what can we do about it?"

"I'm not sure, but at the moment the most we can do is stay away from that twin blade. My guess is that she hasn't given up yet, and she'll be back with a bigger virus the next time. Who knows what that might do?"

Kakera shuddered. _'More than you would ever know Aoshi,_' she thought. _'This virus was bad enough with knocking my body offline for two hours.'_

"Hey," said Kakera, glancing about. "Where is Tobira?"

"Oh, he's over in the grunty pen," said Rai.

"Grunty?" Kakera was puzzled. "Is that some kind of monster?"

"Heheh," laughed Aoshi. "Look's like we'll have to show her Rai."

Rai grinned at his friends. "Heehee, follow me." The group starting walking down the dirt paths, heading past all the shops and buildings. Players were everywhere, but none seemed to notice Aoshi.

"Aoshi, why aren't there any fan girls here?" asked Kakera.

"Well, there are some around," replied the blademaster. "But since I spend the majority of my time in newbie areas in the Delta server, people on this server don't know me as much. The areas on this server are at a higher level than the one you were in."

"Wait, how many servers are there?"

"Quite a few. But for now you'd better just stay in these two servers. Once you're all at a higher level, I'll take you to some more."

The group stopped as they came to what appeared to be a barn and pen. A NPC in the corner was smiling, and Kakera could see Tobira leaning over something, his staff lying on the ground next to him.

"What the..." said Kakera. Then she screamed as she spotted what was in the wavemaster's arms.

Tobira turned to show a little pig like creature in his arms. It had a little furry brown body and small stubby tail. Its head had a small mouth and nostrils with a lighter brown around its mouth. Its bright green eyes stared back at Kakera, the few black hairs on its head falling over its face.

"Hey, Kakera, check it out!" said Tobira excitedly. "This is my new friend Poketto!"

"What is that thing, and why did you name it Pocket in Japanese?"

"It's a grunty," replied the little wavemaster. "And it's name is Poketto cause it was the first cool sounding name that I found in the dictionary." Tobira huggled his little grunty. "Say hi to Kakera, Poketto."

"Gru?" said the little grunty. "Gru gru gru!" The creature jumped out of Tobira's hands and landed on Kakera's breast plate. It licked Kakera in the face with its giant tongue, then jumped back into Tobira's lap.

"Yuck!" yelled Kakera, wiping the grunty germs off her face. "Ugh, why did he do that?"

Rai and Aoshi laughed at the heavy blade. "It's just saying it likes you," said Rai through the laughter.

"You're a good little grunty, aren't you Pocky?" said Tobira, hugging the grunty again.

"Now he's a chocolate covered biscuit?" asked Kakera, confused.

"Nope, I just decided to call him Pocky, it's short for Poketto. Besides, he looks a little like a chocolate covered biscuit."

"Gru gru," said Pocky, jumping on top of Tobira's head. The little grunty immediately curled up and fell asleep.

"Heehee, well I guess it is a little cute," said Kakera. "Weird, but cute."

"They get a little weirder when they grow up," commented Aoshi. "I raised one once when I first came to Don Loireg. But I haven't uh, how would you say it, had the guts to try again."

Kakera raised her eyebrows at her friend. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, mon ami!" cried a French sounding voice from behind them.

"That's what I mean," said Aoshi, hiding his face. The rest of the group turned to see a giant grunty running towards them. About the size of Kakera, the grunty looked like it could be ridden on. Curly blonde hair lay on its head, and its fur seemed to look like a vest, pants, and fluffy scarf. The obviously French grunty ran up and nuzzled Aoshi.

"Oh, mon ami, how I have missed you!" it said. "Have you come to visit me?"

"Ugh, sure Noble Grunty," replied Aoshi, trying to keep calm. "Uh, guys, this is Noble Grunty. It's a full grown adult."

"Yes, I have become a fine gentleman because of Aoshi. Oh, mon ami, have you come to travel together with me?"

"Actually Noble Grunty, we were just about to go..."

"Ah, I see mon ami. Well, be sure to come visit me again soon!" The grunty looked towards the others and nodded. "Yes, I hope to see you all again soon. Goodbye mon ami!" The grunty immediately turned and walked away, trying to walk as dignified as possible.

"What the hell was that?" asked Rai, gaping at the strange creature.

"That," said Aoshi, "Is what happens when you raise a grunty wrong. In all the servers that you can raise grunties, there are three that they can become when they grow up. Two cool ones, or a Noble Grunty." Aoshi shuddered. "And that's why I refuse to raise another grunty."

Kakera laughed. "Poor Aoshi, the one thing he can't do right in the World."

"Hey! You don't have to point it out!"

Kakera simply giggled. "Have to point out something now, don't I?"

"Urgh..."

"Hey, can we go to an area already?" said Tobira, breaking the flirting between Kakera and Aoshi.

"Oh, right," said Aoshi. "Come on, I know a nice area that should be a good challenge for you all."


	13. Chapter 12: Dungeon 2 point 0

AN: Yes, I'm back. And all I can say is thank you thank you thank you to all my reviewers! This chapter was a pain to write, especially the battle scene, but knowing that people have gone and read all of this stuff has made me want to finish it. So please enjoy this chapter, and I promise to update more frequently!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the .hack series or My Life as a Teenage Robot. I do own the online personas of Aoshi, Kakera, Rai, Tobira, Taka, Pocky, Jamie, Youkai, and Akumu.

.hackdimensions

Chapter 12: Dungeon 2.0

Aoshi, Kakera, Tobira, Pocky, and Rai soon arrived at strange location through yellow portals. They seemed to be standing on a hill top, and as they looked out, they could see the land before them appeared to be made of lava. The sky was a dark red to match the red steaming ground, and a bright red rock formation could be seen in the distance.

"Is there a reason the ground's on fire?" asked Tobira, staring out.

"Is there a side quest to put it out?" added in Rai.

Aoshi laughed. "Nope, this is just a fire element level. You may have noticed when you pick areas that there is an element next to the level for that area."

"Is every level completely different then?" asked Kakera.

"Nah. The programmers get lazy, so very few areas are different. The dungeon paths tend to be random though, but areas of the same element tend to look similar. There are only a few levels at all that are not like that."

Rai raised his eyebrows. "Special high leveled areas?"

"Not always," replied the blademaster. "I know of one that is supposed to be like a ship, and an incredibly strong dragon monster is there. But then there is also an area with a huge church. No monsters or dungeon there though." Aoshi shrugged. "I've never been to either area though."

"A church..." whispered Kakera. _'Oh! Maybe it's for virtual weddings!'_ she thought. _'Oh, maybe Aoshi will propose and we can get married and..'_

"KAKERA!" yelled Tobira.

"Huh?" The heavy blade shook her head.

"You were getting all googly-eyed and were dancing around."

"Gru gru!" added in Pocky.

"Eh..." Kakera laughed. "I'm just so excited about playing, that's all."

Rai and Aoshi shared a glance for a moment, and then looked back at the others.

"So what's the plan for today anyway?" asked Rai.

"Right," commented Aoshi. "Well, areas in this server tend to be of a higher level than those you all have been on. I decided it would be a good chance for you to go through a dungeon."

"Dungeon!" yelped Tobira. "But aren't there skeletons down there?"

Aoshi shrugged. "Maybe. There are a few types of skeleton monsters."

"No! I don't like skeletons!"

"I thought the only thing Tobira was afraid of were giant wheels," whispered Kakera to Rai.

"Nope," whispered back Rai. "Ever since he saw a skeleton hanging in the science classroom at his school, he's been scared by them. Maybe that's why he never gets very good grades in that class."

Kakera giggled, and looked to the shaking Tobira. "Don't worry Tobira. We're all here to protect you from the skeletons."

"Gru gru!" piped in his little grunty.

"Heehee, I guess Pocky will too."

"Are you gonna let a little grunty be braver than you Tobira?" said Rai.

"Nnn-no," stuttered the little wavemaster. He picked up his grunty and held it close. "Let's just get going already, so I can get this over with." He started walking towards the dungeon entrance quickly.

"Wait up Tobira!" yelled Rai, running to catch up with his little brother. Kakera started after him, but stopped as Aoshi grabbed her hand.

"Kakera...."

"Huh? What is it Aoshi?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" said the blademaster, a worried look on his face.

"I'm fine, don't worry." Kakera smiled weakly. "I'm stronger than you think you know."

Aoshi smiled back. "I know, but can you blame me for worrying? If there was a virus with Taka's attack..."

_'Why would he care if there was a virus,'_ Kakera thought. '_Unless he knows I'm a robot, otherwise he knows it wouldn't affect me, right?'_

"After things like Deadly Flash and the Twilight," continued Aoshi, "Well, you never know."

"What is the Twilight and Deadly Flash?" asked the heavy blade.

"You don't know? Well, Deadly Flash was a huge virus, and almost destroyed all the computers in the world. It also killed seven people." Aoshi shook his head. "The Twilight was more recent, and was associated around the World. It put a lot of people in comas. Let's just say, after those viruses, you never know what someone could do through one."

"Are you guys coming?" yelled Rai.

"Just a sec!" called back Aoshi. "Just... just be careful, okay?" Aoshi squeezed Kakera's hand, and then ran after Rai.

"I will Aoshi, I promise," whispered Kakera. She held the hand close to her face, the warmth of Aoshi's touch still there.

"Kakera!"

"Coming!" The heavy blade hurried down the hill towards the large molten mound that was the entrance to the dungeon. Rai, Aoshi, and Tobira were already waiting. Pocky was once again asleep on Tobira's head.

"Let's get going already," said Rai. "We want to get the treasure at the bottom of the dungeon, right?"

"Yeah!" yelled Tobira gleefully. Pocky rolled over on the wavemaster's head, making small "gru" sounds in his sleep.

"Come on then," replied the blademaster, now focusing completely on the game again. He walked into the entrance and disappeared from sight. Tobira ran in after him, but Rai stayed behind.

"Kakera?" he asked.

"Yeah?" replied the confused heavy blade.

Rai started to speak, but then stopped short. "Nevermind. Come on." The twin blade turned and ran in without a second thought.

_'What was he going to say?'_ Kakera wondered. _'Gah, no need to worry about it I guess.' _The heavy blade hefted her sword up on her shoulder and ran in. As soon as she entered, Taka jumped down from the top of the dungeon entrance.

"Heh, glad Jamie gave me the tip," she said. "Come on Kakera, it's time to play." The twin blade smiled wickedly, and walked into the entrance.

* * *

"This is a lot different from the dungeon I was in with you Aoshi," said Kakera, staring around her.

"There are different types," replied Aoshi. "Just be glad it's a simple one. Only dirt floors and jutted stone walls. At least it's not one of those 'alive' ones."

"A-alive?" whispered Tobira, shivering once more.

"Do we want to know?" asked Rai, shaking his head.

Aoshi grinned. "Nothing really special about those. They just freak newbies out. Anyway, let's just try to get to the bottom of this one before worrying about any of the others."

"But which way do we go?" asked the heavy blade. "There's no map."

"Leave that to me," said Rai. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a shining object. He held it up and yelled "Fairy's Orb!" Suddenly, the whole room flashed, and the others covered their eyes so they would not be blinded. Kakera opened her eyes again, but nothing had changed.

"What did you do?" she asked her red haired friend.

"Just check your map. Now the entire dungeon path for this floor will be shown." Sure enough, Rai was right. There seemed to be a lot of twists and turns leading to dead ends, but Kakera could see the stairs leading to the next floor.

"Let's go then!" said Aoshi, and they headed off.

* * *

It had been some time later before they reached the final level, the fifth floor. Rai had used a fairy's orb on every level so far, so they had been able to find their way to the next level easily, not to mention find the monsters and treasure chests. They had hit almost all of the monsters, and the three newbs had gained a few levels each. Even Tobira, who, frightened of the skeletons, sent out wave after wave of lightning spells, not to mention healing spells to all of them. Aoshi had mostly sat back and watched them, grinning the entire time.

Now it seemed that they had finally reached the end. Kakera noticed that this level had no stairs except the ones they had just come down from, and in fact, this level had only three rooms consisting of a long hallway and two separate ones. One had a blue marking for a treasure chest, the other held... nothing?

"That's weird," said Rai, peering at the sky. "Why would this level have a room with nothing in it?"

"To confuse people?" piped in Tobira, holding Pocky close to him as he spoke.

"I don't think so," said Aoshi. "May just be the program being messed up. Want to check it out."

"Why not?" said Rai. He looked to Kakera. "You in?" he asked.

Kakera simply shrugged. "Why not?" she said. "Besides, we can always come back and get the treasure, right?"

"That's the spirit!" said Rai. "You have to be an adventurer to play this game, and that's what we're going to be."

"Gru gru!" said Pocky, and ran to the room.

"Pocky! Wait!" yelled Tobira, and ran after the little grunty.

"Let's go," said Aoshi, and the rest of the group followed.

They were also followed by someone unbeknownst to them.

"Time to take the bitch down," whispered Taka, taking off after them. "I may love Aoshi too, but that doesn't mean I won't use my abilities to keep him out of the way."

The group stepped into the empty room. It looked simple, like every other room in the dungeon. That is, except for the yellow portal with data streams in the middle of the room.

"What? Why are there all those numbers on it?" said Rai, startled.

"Something is wrong," whispered Aoshi. He took a step forward, but stopped suddenly as he heard a sound from behind him. The blademaster turned quickly, and cried out, "You!"

Taka smiled as she stepped into the room. Everyone stared at her, except for Tobira who was simply confused.

"Uh who's that?" said the little wavemaster as he pointed to Taka.

"Get back Tobira," cried Kakera as she pulled back the wavemaster. "That's the girl who killed me yesterday."

"Oh, kill is such a harsh word," laughed Taka. "I prefer 'eliminated' or 'taken care of'. But that seems to not be the case. So how much longer before you tire of running and you leave this game once and for all?" With a flick of her wrists, Taka's twin blades came out of her sleeves and she twirled them momentarily in the air. "Now then, let's make this short, shall we?"

"You're not taking her out that easily," said Rai, as his own blades flicked out of his sleeves. Kakera drew her own weapon in defense, and Tobira held his staff in front of him defensively, still confused.

"Wait! Don't!" yelled Aoshi, but it was too late. By drawing their weapons, they had activated the portal behind them. It was spinning faster and faster, and a monster was appearing in its place. The whole group turned and stared, even Taka who was unused to this strange sight.

The monster appeared to be some sort of crossover of a lion and a bird. It had a lion's head and back legs, paws, and tail, but its front legs were like talons of a great bird and huge red feathered wings sprung from his back. The coloring was strange; the feathers were all blood red, while the fur and mane of the creature was blue. At least, this is as close as Kakera could have described it. Spots of the strange data numbers were all over it, just like...

"Just like the monster from before..." whispered Kakera.

"What are you talking about," said Rai, stepping back away from it.

"When Aoshi and I went in that dungeon there was this strange monster. It had data streams all over it, and we couldn't get out of the dungeon. If we hadn't have beaten it, I don't know what could have happened."

"That explains it," muttered Taka to herself. "That's why Jamie couldn't get in."

"Quit talking! Let's get out of here!" yelled Tobira as he ran towards the entrance at a tremendous speed. Pocky gripped onto the wavemaster's hat so he wouldn't fall off. Tobira ran straight into the entrance, and fell to the floor.

"No, the entrance is stuck!" he yelled.

"Then we have to fight," said Aoshi. He glanced over to Kakera and Rai, who nodded. Then he took a cold glance at Taka. "Only a fool would focus on a single enemy simply vengeance when a greater one lies before them. If you have any sense of honor, or any hope of living past this day, then either stay out of our way or help us defeat this creature."

Taka glared at him. "Fine, a truce then until this is defeated. After that, the bitch is mine." She made a face of disgust at Kakera, and then hurried towards the monster who had just noticed the players in the room.

The monster roared and charged towards the group. "Split up!" yelled Aoshi, but this command was unneeded. Kakera took the left side, Rai the right, Taka was coming from the back, Aoshi the front, and Tobira... Well, Tobira was running as far away as he could from the monster, clutching Pocky tight as he ran.

Aside from Tobira, the others were closing in on the beast. The monster didn't seem to be threatened by the four people coming towards it. As Taka reached it first, the monster moved its massive tail and knocked Taka into the wall opposite. Using its paws, it did the same against Rai, Kakera, and Aoshi. As the players hit the wall, they were hurt slightly, but not as bad as Aoshi expected.

"Not too strong," said the blademaster, getting to his feet. "But that wasn't one of its main attacks. Huh?" Aoshi paused and saw the creature chasing after Tobira and Pocky.

"Oh no! Bro!" yelled Rai, but he wasn't the first to react. Kakera raced towards the beast, a look of determination on her face. The monster had chased Tobira into a corner of the room, and the wavemaster was at that moment huddled up with Pocky, his sword in front of his face for defense. The monster raised its front talons to slice at the pair, when Kakera's blade hit.

"Hi-ya!" yelled the heavy blade as her sword cut. The monster roared in pain, and stopped its attack on Tobira. It turned around to look at the blade master. Kakera didn't back down however. _'If Aoshi is determined to save the World,'_ she thought, _'Then I can be determined enough to help.' _Kakera started to strike again, when the monster decided to take some retaliation of its own. It lifted back its head and let out a flame on Kakera.

Kakera held up her sword in defense, but the attack was very strong. She felt her HP going, when suddenly the attack stopped.

"There!" yelled Tobira as a bolt of lightning hit the monster. "Don't hurt them you big weenie!" Tobira's staff was high in the air, and Pocky was on his head, gruing in anticipation.

"Way to go Tobira!" yelled Rai as he and Taka came in for another attack. Aoshi held back however, and ran over to Kakera who was now hunched over on the floor.

"Are you okay?" he asked hurriedly. Kakera nodded, although she knew that her HP was weak.

"I'll stay and help you, okay?" said Aoshi. "Tobira isn't close enough to heal you, and I'm all out of healing items."

"Don't worry about it," said Kakera quickly. "Just watch out!" Aoshi grabbed Kakera and jumped forward, just before the monster's claw came down on the spot they were just occupying. Aoshi let Kakera down gently, and then stood before the monster with his sword.

"Taka! Rai! You two get it while I distract it!" The blademaster went in for the attack, Kakera sitting nearby, too weak to move now.

Meanwhile, Taka and Rai were coming up from the back towards the monster. Taka stopped and touched Rai.

"You get Tobira and let him know I'm gonna need his bolt attack in a minute," she said quickly.

"How can I trust that you'll go fight the monster and not go hurt Kakera?" asked Rai indignantly.

"Because I'm not stupid enough to risk myself or Aoshi getting killed. Just wait for my signal and have him attack where my blade is." With that, Taka ran towards the side of the monster.

"Hurry up!" Aoshi yelled while still fighting the beast. It was so focused on fighting Aoshi that it didn't notice Taka as she jumped up into the air and threw one of her blades into the creature's left eye.

"Now Tobira!" commanded Taka as she landed on the ground. The monster roared in pain as Tobira's bolt came down onto the beast's eyes, blinding it.

"Rai, Aoshi!" Kakera called. "Use special attacks! It should break its data!" The twin blade and blademaster ran and used their own attacks on the monster.

"Nightmare Banisher!" yelled Aoshi as he sliced the side.

"Twin Flame!" yelled Rai as his blades lit up with fire and slid through the other side. The monster roared as the attacks hit, causing its data to go haywire. Suddenly, its data broke apart and it was gone.

"Yes!" screamed Rai and Tobira, as they danced around with Pocky. The level ups were already appearing over all of their heads, and for the newbies, it was quite a bit.

"Thank god," whispered Aoshi, staring at where the monster had once been. "Hopefully that's the last of them. Wait, Kakera!" The blademaster turned, but was too late.

Kakera still lay on the ground, but now was held tight by Taka with a blade to her throat.

"Taka..." whispered Aoshi scornfully.

"Think I'd waste a moment Aoshi?" said Taka slyly. "I believe that the monster is defeated and the door is unlocked. That means our truce is over, right?" She grinned evilly and put the blade closer to the heavy blade's throat.

"Aoshi..." whispered Kakera, fear in her voice and her eyes. Rai and Tobira stared, not knowing what to do, but Aoshi held his sword at his side, and spoke calmly.

"Leave her be Taka, or you'll have to deal with me next."

"I don't think so Aoshi. You may be the love of my and all the rest of the fan girl's lives, but I can't break the mistresses word. Sorry!" With that, Taka sliced Kakera and had a sprite ocarina in her hand in a heartbeat.

"Ta-ta," she laughed as she disappeared from sight, leaving the now stone grey form of Kakera and the others in the room.

Aoshi dropped his weapon and ran over to Kakera, but the body was already disappearing, in a moment, it was gone.

"Will she be okay Rai?" he asked, staring at the ground before him. Rai thought a moment before answering.

"She's tough. I'm sure she should be fine, just like last time."

"God, I hope you're right."


	14. Chapter 13: Confrontation

AN: Well, I finally finished this chapter. I guess four months isn't too bad, right? Heh, well at least I finally got back to the fic. First of all, a big thank you to all of those who have read and reviewed my story. I can't believe some of you actually read it all! Now I hope to get updates up sooner now that this chapter is up. It should get a lot more interesting from here on out. Anyway, read, review, and enjoy, and pray that I actually come out with the next chapter sooner!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from .hack or My Life as a Teenage Robot. I do own the online personas of Kakera, Aoshi, Rai, Tobira, Jamie, Taka, Youkai, and Akumu.

dot hack dimensions

Chapter 13: Confrontation

_Some time later..._

Jenny moaned as her systems came online. "Not again," she muttered, sitting up. She was on the floor of her bedroom, the headset from the game sprawled on the ground beside her. Jenny got up and shook a bit to wake herself up. The room seemed to be a lot darker from when she had started playing. A glance on the clock showed it had been four hours since Taka had killed her once again.

"What? Four hours this time? But... how did..." Jenny sat down on her bed, thinking. "The first time I was only out for two, and this time for four. Is it double each time or something? Well, at least Mom didn't find me this time. I won't have to go through all her tests again." Jenny lay down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. "This is not good, I gotta figure out what's going on."

"Hey, Jenny!" called a familiar voice from the window.

"Oh, hey Brad." Jenny sat up to see her friend climb into the window.

"Sorry I couldn't get over here sooner, as soon as the battle was over I logged off, but then my dad had me and Tuck do house work. I didn't want to mention the fact that you might be offline anyway, or I would have gotten here sooner..." Brad glanced at the discarded headset on the floor. "Uh, you haven't picked up anything since you woke up?"

"How could I?" replied Jenny. "I just woke up."

"What! But it's been-"

"Four hours, I know." Kakera sighed. "Brad, I'm getting worried. If Taka took me out for this long this time, then what is gonna happen to me next time? 8 hours? 16? 32?"

"Whoa Jenn!" Brad sat down on the bed beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. "What makes you think there will be a next time?"

"You saw how Taka easily got me this time. I'm sure its gonna happen again."

"Not if I can help it. Aoshi sent a report to the system admins as soon as you left. There are rules against player killing newbs. Repeated attempts are punished harshly."

"You think that'll help?"

Brad shrugged. "It's worth a shot. There's also something else we could try... go to the fan girls themselves."

Jenny paused and thought. "Yes, that would be good. That could be very interesting indeed..."

* * *

Sheldon sat on the roof of his home, staring up at the night sky. It was a beautiful andclear night, the moon shining bright on the street. It was rather late, so no one noticed him sitting up there.

"Kakera..." he whispered, and sighed. "I'm worried." He pulled his legs tighter to his body, and reminisced.

_"Mommy!" called the little boy in his thoughts. "Mommy!" It had been a bright perfect day. He was hurrying to show his mother his very first report card. "She's gonna be so happy," he said. "I can't wait!" He saw his street and ran down it, until his house came into view. He stopped dead in his tracks._

_The ambulance was parked in front of his home. There were a few men in white coats speaking to his father, and neighbors were crowded all around._

_"Daddy?" he asked, running over to his father. The neighbors parted for him to get through, all giving him looks of sadness. The boy was simply confused by them and hurried to his father. "Daddy, what's going on?"_

_His father looked at him, tears on his face. The boy was startled, his father had never cried, then what..._

_The answer came as two men wheeled out a cart with a body covered in a white sheet._

_"Mommy..." he whispered._

_"I heard there are more incidents, only a few other deaths though," he heard one of the neighbors said. "Downtown everything is going haywire. Anything run by a computer."_

_"Their home must have been completely automated," said another. "Very few around here are yet."_

_"Mommy..." The boy walked over to the ambulance, tears in his eyes. They were about to close the doors._

_"No... No!" he screamed. "Don't take her away! She can't be gone! Mommy! Mommy!"_

Sheldon awoke from the nightmare, his body covered in a cold sweat. He wiped away the tears in his eyes. "I hate them," he whispered. "All those viruses. If it hadn't have been for deadly flash, Mom might still have been alive. And what will happen if Taka's virus evolves and hurts Jenny? Or if the Twilight virus has returned." He shook his head.

"I have to protect her. To quit the game if I must. But how can I? Unless I betray her through Aoshi...

"I have to find a way. I love her too much to see her hurt. I couldn't save Mom, but I will save Jenny."

* * *

"You sure you want to play in here today?" asked Tobira as they walked through Dun Loireg. Pocky was on his head, sleeping as usual. "Since you got killed by Taka yesterday."

"Don't worry about it Tobira," said Kakera. "I don't think she'll strike at me two days in a row."

"But Kakera, you don't know what she's capable of," argued Rai. "You saw what happened. She struck at our exact weakest moment."

Kakera shrugged. "We won't get caught off guard again today."

Rai sighed. It was no use convincing her to take a break from the game for awhile. Sheldon had spoken to him the night before about getting her off the game as well. With Taka about with her virus blades, who knew what would happen to Jenny next?

"Where is Aoshi anyway?" asked Tobira.

"I tried to contact him, but I didn't get an answer," said Kakera. "Maybe he had to go somewhere today?" _'I hope not,'_ she thought to herself. _'I miss him.'_

"Yeah, probably just had to go somewhere," replied Rai. 'Where is he really?' he thought. _'Would he deliberately not play just so Kakera would lose interest?'_

"Come on, let's go somewhere already!" cried Tobira impatiently.

"Okay, let's just go to a random level," said Rai, and led the way over to the portal.

* * *

From the top of one of the buildings, Aoshi sat in the shadows, watching them. "What should I do?" he whispered. "I need her to stop playing, but if then who knows when would be the next time she would speak to me again? Not in the real world for sure, even if I did tell her who I am." He sighed. "What do I do?"

"Oh, maybe you should just not talk to her altogether?" Taka jumped up on the building and sat down besides Aoshi.

"What the hell do you want?"

"I just wanted to sit next to the man of my dreams and help him in his train of thought." Taka grinned and twirled one of her daggers.

Aoshi glared at her. "What's stopping me from killing you right now?"

"Maybe because this is a no-killing zone anyway you put it. If you try to kill me, it does nothing. Plus since the area is so regularly inspected by admins, you would be hauled off and I would go free. You don't want that, do you?"

Aoshi grimaced. Taka was right. Officially Aoshi was allowed to kill Taka in the higher leveled areas because she wasn't a newb and had passed the protection levels. Still, certain areas had no player killings at all, such as Dun Loireg. The newbie dungeons also were under this, but admins and mods didn't look at them much, so player killers often got away with their misdeeds in these areas.

"What I want to know, Aoshi," continued Taka, "is what you see in that girl. She's not strong, her character design is quite plain, and she's a hopelessly lost noob. Why don't you go with one of the strong, beautiful girls who are after you? Hmm?"

Aoshi glared at her. "First of all, Kakera is stronger than you think, and she's the most kind and loving person I've ever met. Second, how would you know what I want? How do you know anything about me at all? All you see is this character design, but do you know the real me? No, you don't." Aoshi got up and started to walk away, when Taka spoke.

"And Kakera does?" Aoshi stopped in his tracks and looked at Taka. She rose up and continued. "Does she know who you are outside the net? What you really look like? And do you know about her? Aoshi, if this is truly how you feel, then tell her. Tell her who you are. See what she truly thinks." Taka lightened her look. "I too love you in this world, but if you want to make your point, and prove it to me and the rest of the fan girls, tell her."

"I... I can't." Aoshi looked down.

"Any particular reason?"

Aoshi shook his head. "Because... because I don't want to lose her!" He looked up, tears in his eyes. "Alright? Happy? If you or anyone else knew me in the real world, none of you would treat me like this."

Taka nodded. "Fine, then if you won't tell her, I will destroy her."

"Don't you dare..." whispered Aoshi.

"Don't worry Aoshi. It doesn't matter to me what you're like in the real world, for when I'm done with Kakera, I'll make sure to trap you in this world for all time." Taka jumped away off the roof, and was gone from sight.

"What have I done?" whispered Aoshi. "Jenny..."

* * *

Kakera stepped into the molten landscape before her. All she could see was lava and small brown mountains in the distance. The sky was a deep red, a mirror of the flame and lava below.

"It's so dark," said Kakera. "I'd never expect something like this in the World."

"It's a fire element stage," replied Rai, stepping beside her. "It's not any more dangerous than any of the other areas, just a bit more creepy."

"You mean alot more creepy," said Tobira. The little wavemaster shivered, but Pocky didn't seem to notice. The grunty was curled up asleep in his favorite perch, Tobira's head.

"Aw, don't worry Tobira," replied Kakera. "We'll protect you."

"Or we'll throw you to the monsters, whichever is more convenient," joked Rai. Tobira looked up to his brother tearfully, obviously frightened.

"Oh, fine," continued Rai. "Let's just find something to do."

About a half hour later, the group had covered most of the field and had gained several levels. Kakera and Rai had gotten their battle system down, but Tobira still didn't understand their definition of "support".

"I'll go through this again," said Rai, going over to his brother hiding behind a rock. Tobira had run away as soon as the monsters had appeared. "By support, I mean you stay standing near us and send your spells at the monster. You don't hide and do nothing!"

"But at least I'm leveling up," said Tobira. Pocky was still asleep, although he had been jumbled out of his comfortable position a few times due to Tobira's constant flees from the monsters.

"Cheap way to level up," muttered Rai.

"Oh come on, let him be Rai," said Kakera. "Let's just get moving, I want to check out the dungeon now that we've leveled up a bit. Maybe Aoshi will meet us there!"

"Alright," said Rai, "but don't expect him to be there. He probably had something to do today and couldn't get on."

Kakera sighed, thinking of the blademaster for a moment. There was so much about him that she still did not know. She pictured him in her mind, his bright eyes his flowing hair, his tight...

"Kakera, will you move it?" cried Rai, already fairly far ahead of the heavy blade.

"Right, right." Kakera quickly came back to herself. Her drifts into thought were more and more frequent lately wherever she was. Aoshi was just such a big part of her now; she didn't want to let him go, not even for a moment.

The group began walking towards the largest mountain in the area. Torches hung at an entrance in the mound, leading down into the dungeon.

"Stupid to put torches out when there's fire everywhere," said Tobira.

"I guess the designers were just trying to make the entrance easier to find," added Rai. "It is a bit dumb though."

"Well well well, like moths to a flame." The group looked up to the top of the mound to see a familiar face.

"Taka," Kakera muttered, her face moving into a scowl.

"What the hell are you doing here!" yelled Rai, drawing out his blades.

"Oh, just came to have a nice girl to girl talk with Kakera here." Taka smiled and jumped down to the ground in front of her. "No boys allowed though." The yellow twin blade suddenly threw two bombs out at Tobira and Rai, knocking the brothers to the ground. An electric current ran over them, and the two became motionless.

"Rai! Tobira!" Kakera screamed to her friends.

"Don't worry little Kakera, they're just fine. They just are unable to control their characters for the moment." Taka flipped one of her daggers in her hand, looking at it. "They don't need to be involved in this conversation anyway. You know why I'm here."

Kakera grimaced. "Aoshi."

"Yes, you and he are quite the little set of lovebirds, aren't you?" Suddenly Taka resheathed the blade she was playing with, angered. "Why, why is it you?"

Kakera was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"Of all the people in the World, why did Aoshi pick you? A noob, and an ugly weak one to boot." Kakera stepped forward to speak, but was cut short by the dagger suddenly inches from her throat. "Now now little girl, it's my turn to speak. So what did you do? Bribe him? Hypnotize him? You obviously didn't threaten him, that never worked before. Well?" Taka pulled her dagger away and pushed the heavy blade to the floor.

"I, I..." Kakera stammered, lost for words. Aoshi had picked her, of all people, to be with. This thought kept running through Kakera's mind on an unending spiral. But why? Kakera had no idea herself.

"If you won't answer," said Taka, "then maybe you need a nice break from the World." Taka ran forward with her blades but was stopped by a long sword and a familiar face.

"Aoshi!" Kakera cried.

Aoshi pushed forward with his blade, and Taka pulled back. "So you'd rather put yourself on the line in front of the little bitch?"

Aoshi ignored the twin blade and looked back at Kakera. "Kakera, quickly, you have to get out of here."

Kakera shook her head. "No, I'm not leaving you here in danger. And Rai and Tobira."

"I'll be fine, just go. Rai and Tobira will be okay too. I just don't want you hurt."

"Aw, how sweet," said Taka. "Let's end this tender moment." Taka ran forward and attacked Aoshi. The twin blade was fast, and Aoshi had to concentrate hard to block the twin blade's attacks. Kakera sat startled a moment, then jumped to here feet and drew her own blade. She ran forward and started attacking Taka as well.

"Kakera..." Aoshi muttered, taking a glance at the heavy blade. Kakera merely grinned.

"I have a blade too. Why shouldn't I help?" The two continued to deliver blows at Taka, but even with two against one, it was evenly matched. Suddenly, Taka showed an opening for Kakera, but Aoshi pulled forward and took the blow.

"Rrr," Taka growled, pulling back. Aoshi slumped down, breathing heavily. It had been a deep wound, and had taken away most of his hit points.

"Aoshi!" Kakera dropped her blade and leaned down next to him. "Why?"

Aoshi smiled. "Because I love you. And I want to protect you, Jenny."

Time stood still for a moment as those words past Aoshi's lips. Aoshi immediately realized his error and grimaced, and Kakera held her breath, thoughts jumping through her mind. Taka was the first to react.

"So, your name is Jenny, hmm? Interesting." The twin blade sheathed her blades. "I'll leave you two alone for now; this is interesting enough to report." The twin blade disappeared in a portal, and in a moment was gone from the field. As Taka left, the effects of her bombs on Rai and Tobira wore off, and the two rose to their feet. They looked over to Aoshi and Kakera, Kakera now on the floor staring shocked at the blademaster.

"You... you know me? In the real world?" she stammered out.

Aoshi looked at her, eyes deep with worry. "I'm sorry," he whispered, and gated out from the real world. Rai ran over to Kakera as Aoshi left, the heavy blade still staring at the spot where Aoshi was.

"Kakera, you okay?" asked Rai, his arms on her shoulders.

"He... he knows who I am," whispered Kakera. "But he loves me..."

The fires of the area raged on, oblivious to the events that had occurred. Events that would not soon leave the minds of those present.


	15. Chapter 14: Unknown

AN: Hello once again to dot hack dimensions! Sorry for the uber delay. This chapter is very short since it was originally meant to be a songfic chapter involving Let Me Go by Three Doors Down. Listen to the song while reading, you'll see what I mean. The next chapter should be up soon, so enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own .hack or My Life as a Teenage Robot. I do own the original characters mentioned in previous disclaimers.

dot hack dimensions

Chapter 14: Unknown

Jenny sat at the foot of her window, looking up at the stars. After Aoshi had gated out, she too had logged out of the World. There was too much to think about, and she needed to have a clear head. The same thought continued to go through her mind over and over again.

_'He knows who I am, but he doesn't care. Aoshi... who are you?'_

Across town, the boy in question sat on his roof, looking up at the same stars.

"Jenny... god, I'm so stupid. How... how could I have done that? Jenny... I don't deserve you..."

"He has to be in school, somewhere," said Jenny quietly to herself. "I have to find him. I love him." Jenny closed her eyes, thinking. Aoshi's little habits, they had to be like someone else at school. But her thoughts turned to nothing, there were so many people. Yet, there was only one Aoshi.

"He's there, somewhere. I know Aoshi better than anyone; as soon as I see him in real life I'll know who exactly who it is."

"Should I tell her?" Sheldon argued with himself. "But, how can I? I've decieved her for so long. She'd hate me if she knew how long I've been keeping this lie." Sheldon thought back to all those moments he had spent with Kakera lately. It was the closest Jenny had ever let anyone towards her. In real life, Jenny had pushed Sheldon away so much. After such a deception, she'd push him, and probably others away for good. He wouldn't be able to handle knowing he had ruined much of Jenny's life.

Jenny rose and walked over to her shelf. She quickly pulled out her yearbook, and began to flip through the pictures. She stopped momentarily on every boy, considering, wondering, hoping, and dreaming...

"A list!" she said, pulling out a paper. "I'll get Sheldon and Brad to help me, I'll make a list of all the possible boys at school. They can help me track him down, I know it!"

"Jenny..." Sheldon looked down to the ground, tears holding back in his eyes. "What can I do? Anything I do will hurt her. What could be best that I don't ruin her life? What could I do? I'll do whatever she asks me, I just can't tell her..."

"I need to tell her, I don't have a choice," Sheldon considered. "But without the fan girls finding out either. She'll figure out on her own anyway. Maybe she'll forgive me if I tell her straight out, just maybe..."

"Ok, I have a list of prospective people in school. Aoshi has to be there, they're the only ones who know about me. Aoshi, please be there, I can't stand another moment apart."

"Aoshi..."

"Kakera..."

* * *

Sheldon sat on the side of the stairs outside school, waiting for Jenny to arrive.

"Ok, you can do this," he told himself. "Just walk up to her and say 'Jenny, I know who Aoshi is.' Just spit it out and it won't be painful."

"Sup Sheldon?"

Sheldon jumped up as Brad looked at him curiously.

"Uh, are you okay?" the red head asked.

"J-just fine," Sheldon stammered out. "Brad, I'm scared..."

"About what?" Brad asked, then stopped, suddenly realizing. "Wait, you're going to tell her?"

The black haired boy shook his head. "I have no choice. I can't go on leaving her in the dark. She knows that I know her in real life. it's only a matter of time before fingers point at me."

"Sheldon, I don't know..."

"Brad, what else can I do?" He looked down at the ground, and closed his eyes. "If she figured out, I don't think she'd ever speak to me again."

"There has to be another way..."

"Hey guys!" Brad and Sheldon jumped as Jenny walked over. She was smiling, and was carrying two paper tablets with her.

"J-Jenny," stumbled Sheldon. "What's up?" Sheldon smiled slightly, trying his best to keep calm, although he was sweating profusely. Jenny was so engrossed in her own affairs that she didn't notice how Sheldon acted.

"Listen guys, I figured it out!" Jenny grinned as Sheldon and Brad shared a worried glance. "I made a list of every single guy at school that could possibly be Aoshi, and I need you two to help me check out these people. Seeing how the two of you are my best friends, and neither of you could be him, I know you can help me."

"Jenn, I don't know..." said Brad, but was immediately interrupted by a chirp from Sheldon.

"Sure Jenny! No problem. Let me just take one of the lists, and I'll get right on it. Brad and I can go out right now and start, ok?"

"Awesome! Thank you so much Sheldon!" Jenny ran up and hugged the two boys quickly, then thrust the tablets of names at them. "I have to run and take care of some trouble in town. I'll see you two later!" Jenny blasted off, leaving the two dumbstruck boys there to look at the lists before them.

"Oh god, look at some of the assholes she has on this list!" pointed out Brad. "You'd think she'd know most of these preps wouldn't be it. Right, Sheldon?" Brad looked up at his black haired friend, but Sheldon wasn't even paying attention. His face was pointed out at the sky, watching the path Jenny had taken. "Shel? Hello?" Brad tapped him lightly on the shoulder before the teen came through.

"Huh, oh, yeah." Sheldon stuck in the pad in his bag. "Listen, I gotta go. I'll see you later Brad."

"Uh, ok, but try to relax a bit ok? You're scaring me a bit." Sheldon nodded, not really seeming to comprehend the message, and ran off.

* * *

Meanwhile, others too were performing their own investigations...

"Alright, here's the plan!" addressed Brit to the group of girls around her. "According to Taka's report last night, Jenny is Kakera. Aoshi must be in the school if he knows her." She looked over to a short red haired girl in jeans and a tshirt. "Jamie, did Taka mention anything else to you on the phone last night?"

Jamie shook her head. "Nah. Ally- err, I mean Taka has visited me a few times, so when she heard who Jenny was, she recognized it. I mean, how many people use that 20th century name anymore? But aside from that, nothing else, just the usual disgusting infatuation."

"God, this is gonna be tough," remarked Tif. "Aoshi's in love with this girl and knows her in real life, but I don't know any other guys aside from Brad and Sheldon who talk with her irl."

"It can't be one of those freakos," asserted Brit. "Brad and his little brother are Rai and Tobira, that much I can figure. And Sheldon is too much of a freak to have Aoshi."

"So what can we do to narrow down the list?" asked Jamie.

"We must get info from every boy in this school. I want to know who every player is in this school. I don't care what you do to get the info from them. Threaten them, pay them, break their skulls!" Brit clenched her hand in a feat of rage. "We will find Aoshi, no matter what the cost."

* * *

Aoshi sat in his favorite area in the World, beneath a tall elm tree. Noone was around, thankfully, allowing the boy time to think. Somehow, when Sheldon was in the World as Aoshi, he could gather his thoughts better than he could any where else. Aoshi gave him confidence that nothing else could, but even the amazing character couldn't help the boy's mental connumdrum today.

"I have to tell her," he muttered. "I have to... But..." Aoshi shook his head in frustration. "What to do, what to do..."

The blademaster jumped up, threw down his sword, and screamed. THe noise traveled all throughout the area, but there was not a soul to hear him. Expressing his anger did nothing for him, the blademaster fell to his feet and cried.

"What the hell can I do? I can't lose her, but how can I keep her now?"

A whistling sound echoed through the area, but Aoshi didn't look up. It wasn't till the footsteps that followed stopped in front of him, and voice called out.

"Aoshi?" The tear stricken blademaster looked up to see the person he so hoped to see, but also dreaded.

"Hey, Kakera."

The heavy blade walked over and sat down beside him. "Is everything alright? You look horrible, althought I didn't think that could be so possible in a game."

The blademaster sighed. "Kakera, I... I..."

"Aoshi, wait." Kakera put her hand on his shoulder. "Listen, I know you let slip yesterday that you know me, in the real world. And... I want to know who you are. Aoshi..." She gripped both his shoulders. "Aoshi, I want to know the real you! If you can know who, and what I am in the real world, don't I deserve the same? Can't I have the pleasure of walking around every day, and knowin if I see you, that yes, that is the boy that I love? That is Aoshi?"

Aoshi looked down. He couldn't bear to look at her face. Tears triclked down into his lap. "Kakera... I can't. I just can't!"

The heavy blade's arms came down, and she peered at him.

"Kakera, you don't understand. If you knew, god if you knew..."

"Aoshi, does it matter?"" Kakera touched her love's hair, trying to find his face. "It doesn't seem like it mattered to you."

"But it's different! I don't think you can accept it like I can!" They both froze as the words escaped his lips. Aoshi got up away from Kakera, and walked a few paces before turning back to look at her.

"I'd rather our relationship end right here without you finding out who I am and hurting us more. This way, I could still just be a friend to you in the real world. You'd never have to know, it doesn't matter. Jenny, I'd rather lose you like this now, then lose you completely." He paused, but Kakera couldn't meet his eyes. The blademaster sighed.

"Please, just don't try to find me. Please." He looked forlornly at her once again. "Goodbye, Kakera." With that, Aoshi gated out. After a few moments, Kakera grabbed her sword and rose to her feet.

"It's not going to end like this Aoshi," she said slowly, trying to hold back tears. "If you leave me in this world, I'll just double my efforts." Jenny turned off the computer and Kakera vanished from the game.

Jenny took off her headset and laid it down on the table. With a determined glance, she grabbed her school directory and the phone. She flipped through the book for a moment, then dialed a number.

"Hello, Greg? It's Jenny. Listen, you're really involved with the computer club at school right? Yeah, and do you have any experience with the World? Uhhuh, well how about hacking experience? I have a job for you, all my allowance for the next year. I need you to crack into the game's database, and get me all the personal information that you can on the player Aoshi..."


End file.
